Trapped
by fairytailcrossover
Summary: As eight dragon slayers and one celestial wizard are thrown into a new world, they come across a group of pirates that are almost as rowdy as Fairy Tail. Being thrust into an unfamiliar world, these mages haven't got a clue what to do, but they'll have to make do with each other and try to figure out a way home. (HAS BEEN REWRITTEN)
1. Well That Was Unexpected

Chapter 1: Well That Was Unexpected

The guild was in full party mode. There wasn't any special occasion that called for it. They just felt like having a party, so of course, they did what they always do, and they threw one. It was like any party, with Gray and Natsu fighting, dragging the rest of the men, and quite a few of the women in on it. However, an immediate damper was brought to their happy mood when Lahar and Doranbolt walked in, along with a disgruntled looking Cobra, followed by Sting, the newest master of the Sabertooth guild, and Rogue, along with their two little Exceeds, who were, for once, silent.

The people in the room, for the most part, could sense the mood of the visitors, and it wasn't good. They didn't seem at all happy about the visit, and that worried quite a few of the smarter members. Some, though, Natsu being, obviously, among them, didn't sense any change in the atmosphere, and continued to fight, only to be shut down by Erza. The guild was quiet as the visitors entered the master's office, breaths held in anticipation of what was happening that could bring the only remaining dragon slayers outside of Fairy Tail to them.

A sharp inhale sounded around the guild hall as the Master walked out of his room, only to look 5 people in the eyes and walk back into his office. They didn't need any further prompting to enter his office. The first four weren't a surprise, given their visitors, the four dragon slayers present in their guild making their way towards the office. However, as the fifth mage made her way up, people began whispering, wondering why she would be called to join the dragon slayers in the Master's office.

"Ah, hello, my children, please sit down," Master Makarov said as they entered the room. "We have some news for you, which you may find interesting."

"Really, what is it?" Wendy asked, curious, but also cautious.

"There's been some rumors running around about your dragons," was all he said, immediately gathering Natsu's unadulterated attention, as well as Wendy's, and even Gajeel's, although he attempted to hide it behind a scoff.

"What? Really?" Wendy and Natsu said hopefully, looking at each other, their faces lighting up in happiness, until Wendy's dropped.

"But, why does everyone seem so sad, if that's the case?" Wendy said, taking in the atmosphere of the room and figuring out that something must be off for them to be so upset about it.

"It's not as simple as just a dragon sighting," Lahar took over. "You see, while it's true there are rumors of the dragons' whereabouts, the rumored area is extremely difficult to reach and we're still not entirely sure whether or not they were actually spotted."

"That's all great, but what are the snake and I doing here? We didn't exactly have a dragon parent," Laxus said, looking more than annoyed at being present. Lucy was also wondering why she was there, but decided to remain silent, choosing to just nod her head while watching the master expectantly.

"Ah, Laxus, I was getting to the reason you, Cobra, and Lucy are present, if you would be patient," Makarov chided, before continuing. "While Cobra and Laxus were not raised by dragons, they do, however, have part of a living dragon within them."

Lahar once again took over, "When we received the report of the dragon sighting, we were unsure whether to come to you guys with it, or whether to allow Cobra to participate, however, we feel it is necessary after deliberation. You seven are, as far as we know, the last of the dragon slayers, and the knowledge each of you, and through you, we, could gain from you finding and meeting with your corresponding dragons is immeasurable. This is why we are proposing a journey, a journey in which the eight of you must travel together."

Mavis then spoke up from her perch, making herself known for the first time to the non-Fairy Tail members, "Cobra and Laxus, you would meet the dragons who stored their magic inside of the lacrimas that are in your bodies and learn from them about the abilities that you have yet to discover. All research that has been conducted regarding dragon slayer magic and my personal experience shows that there is so much still that you have yet to learn and so much more you can do with your abilities. You have barely scratched the surface, and now would be the ideal time to discover what abilities are lying within you."

"In this period of peace in Earthland, and with you guys watching over Cobra, we feel safe allowing Cobra to travel with you," Lahar said, shifting his gaze from the Fairy Tail members to Cobra, arms crossed and eyes closed as he sat in his chair, acting as if he was ignoring the entire conversation. "Now as to why Miss Heartfilia must travel with you. Not much is known about the area you are traveling to, as no one has been able to enter the protective barrier surrounding the area in centuries."

"If it's a protective barrier, wouldn't it be easier to bring Freed?" Lucy interjected. "I have some experience with runes due to my friendship with Levy, but I'm fairly certain I won't be strong enough to break through a barrier that hasn't been crossed in centuries."

"You misunderstand, Miss Heartfilia, the reason it hasn't been entered in centuries is because the key to enter the barrier is a Celestial Mage contracted to all 12 members of the Zodiac in addition to Ophiuchus. I'm afraid that the most unfortunate news with us today is related to this as well, Sting, if you'd like..." Lahar said, shifting his eyes from the confused blonde to the light dragon slayer.

"Yukino... passed away the other day during a mission. We took care of the mission and the dark mage is now in prison, but unfortunately, we weren't in time to save her... She asked us to give you her gold keys, I know you were friends, and I apologize for allowing her to die," Sting said, for once acting with maturity as he pulled out Yukino's key ring. "There was one other thing. The reason we took the mission was because of seven keys, black keys, that Yukino said were the rarest of the keys. She told us she couldn't tell us anything until she was sure, but when she saw them, something came over her. She told us we absolutely could not allow them to fall into the wrong hands, and in the end, she died protecting them. We still don't know what they are, but we figured if she was willing to lose her life protecting them, that the person she would want to have them would be the same person she gave her other most prized keys to."

This time he pulled out a box. It was black, embroidered with silk threads woven into the wood in deep colors, seven of them: gold, blue, teal, green, orange, red, and purple, each dark and barely distinguishable from the black surrounding it except for the slight shine they gave off when the light reflected off of it. "We weren't able to open the box, so we haven't actually seen the keys, but here."

He handed Lucy the key ring and the box, the first of which Lucy gripped closely to her heart, tears silently falling from her eyes as she mourned her friend, before shifting her attention to the box. She wasn't sure, but she had a theory about what the black box contained, and the voice of Loke in her head confirmed what she was thinking. She placed the box in her lap and dried her tears, ignoring Natsu's curiosity and urging to open the box and nodded her head at Lahar asking him to continue.

Lahar, sensing that, for whatever reason, Lucy could not open the box in front of them, continued, "Since you are now in possession of each of the Zodiac keys, you can open the barrier."

"If they accept me as their next key holder," Lucy interrupted him.

"What?" Lahar asked, taken slightly aback.

"I'd be more than willing to assist them become reunited with their dragons and participating in this journey, however, I will not force them to accept me as their key holder. If they do not agree to the contract, I will not be able to help," Lucy said.

While Sting looked like he might fight her about it, his urge to see his dragon again after all those years, Rogue put a hand on his shoulder and smiled, "We understand your position. That being said, I'm sure they would be more than willing to work with you. Yukino would not have entrusted them to you if she did not trust you, and her spirits trusted Yukino's decisions." Lucy nodded.

"I have a question, why are the Zodiac keys ALWAYS involved when there are dragons involved? I mean the whole Dragon Festival portal thing could only be stopped because of the Zodiacs, and now the gate that makes it so we can't get to where the dragons are can only be opened by the Zodiac keys?" Gajeel said.

"We believe it has something to do with Draco. Whatever caused the dragons to flee in the first place most likely found refuge in the land of the Celestial Dragon himself, protected by the Zodiac keys. I don't know much about celestial magic, but I do know that after the Spirit King, the Celestial Dragon Draco is the most powerful," Lahar said. Lucy agreed with him, up until the point about Draco being the second most powerful.

If only he knew...

"Very well, then you brats can leave tomorrow," Makarov said with finality.

They all looked around, agreeing with it. Just as they were about to leave, Makarov had one final thing to say.

"One last thing, I'm making Lucy team leader, with Laxus as next in the chain of command," he smiled brightly.

"WHAT?!" several voices yelled, including Lucy's own.

"I think it's a good idea," Cobra said, opening his eye, and mouth, for the first time since the conversation had started.

"Wh-wh-at are you talking about? I have no business being team leader in a group of such powerful mages, the only reason I'm going is because I'm needed to get through the gates to the location..." Lucy said, her eyes directed at the poison dragon slayer.

"They would have sent you anyways. Well, at least Makarov was planning on it before he found out you needed to go anyways, and before you interrupt me again, listen. First of all, we may all be powerful, but most of these guys are about as smart as a door knob, at least when it comes to preparation. We have no idea what we're getting into, there's practically nothing on the area we're going to. You'll be able to think things through if we get stuck in an unwanted situation. Also, I'm pretty sure you're the only one who can talk down both Natsu and Gajeel, and I'm fairly certain you'd be able to talk down Sting and Laxus if you needed to, you just haven't had the opportunity yet. Also, you're magic is versatile and will offer a lot of options if we're stuck in a bind. We need somebody rational and smart to lead the team, and don't think Mira, Gray, or Erza would do a better job, they're too emotional to handle it, and their tempers are too volatile to be able to put up with all the hot heads on this team. This is something you're best suited for."

Makarov nodded, "I couldn't have said it better myself. This is how it's going to work. Lucy will give out orders and will keep everything organized, and Laxus will enforce her rules. If you step out of line, you'll have him to answer to. And Laxus, if you don't listen to her, you'll have me to answer to."

"Don't worry Gramps, I think it's a good idea too," Laxus said.

"Good, also, Cobra, if they're not following orders, and Laxus isn't around, I give you permission to discipline them if they aren't following what Lucy says, not punishment, however, it must only be to discipline them for disobeying orders, and it can't be too severe," Makarov said, "otherwise, you answer to Laxus."

"Now, you're all welcome to go," Makarov smiled, "Be here tomorrow morning with your bags packed at 8."

With that, they all left the room, ready to go to home and get packed, each of the members of the makeshift team excited for what is waiting for them in this unknown portion of the world.

~.~.~

When Lucy got home, she took her time calling out the remaining members of the Zodiac, offering her condolences and contracting her newest spirits, getting to know them each a little bit before allowing them to return to the Spirit World. Each of the spirits was pleased to know that their previous key holder had given their key to Lucy, although Lucy could tell how upset Yukino's death had made them, and after speaking to each of the spirits, she spent some time crying over her dear friend's death, only to be interrupted by Virgo and Loke.

"Princess, I know you are sad, but you must begin getting ready for bed, you have a difficult journey in front of you, we know of the area you are traveling to, and it is not easy to reach," Virgo said. "If you are upset over me interrupting you, you may punish me if you wish," she continued, bowing to Lucy.

"No, Virgo, that won't be necessary, however, if you wouldn't mind packing my bags and storing them in the Spirit World, that would help a lot," Lucy said, seeing through Virgo's attempt to lighten her mood by asking for punishment. Virgo smiled and nodded, getting to work.

Lucy then shifted her attention from Virgo to the box sitting on her table, "So its true, they really do exist," she said, apparently to no one, but Loke answered, understanding the statement was directed at him.

"Yes."

"I thought that they were just a rumor... something celestial mages told stories about that didn't actually exist, but they're real," she said, still not taking her eyes off the box.

"You won't be able to call on them right now," he said, "You have to prove yourself to them. The first time they meet you, they'll come from their own power. That's how they work, they don't just accept anybody as their master."

"But I won't be their master," she said, finally lifting her eyes from the box to him.

"And that's one of the reasons they'll come to you, because you won't treat them like their previous key holders did, as an object to use for power, as a weapon. They must have heard rumors about you by now, and they must have an idea of what it will take for them to come to you, but I can't help you with that. It's something only you can do," he said.

"What do you mean they must have heard rumors? Don't you know them and talk to them?" she asked, curious.

"No, they live on their own. They've never understood how the rest of us serve our key holders without first testing them, but the fact that you've been invited to the Spirit World and that even the Celestial Spirit King thinks of you as a friend, and what you did for me, there's no way that word of you and your deeds hasn't reached them, and knowing their personalities, I know they must already be intrigued. I'd be lying if I said I didn't think they're already keeping an eye on you right now, now that you have their box," he said, his gaze shifting from Lucy to the box, and hers returning to it.

"Should I bring them with me tomorrow?" she asked, not sure whether or not she should. She didn't know what sort of things awaited them or how long they'd be gone.

"Yes, you should take them with you everywhere you go now," he said, "because they could show themselves to you at any time. Also, you should try to open the box."

"I thought I wasn't supposed to. I thought it would open itself if it wanted to be opened. I don't want to overstep my boundaries, if they wish to reveal to me when it is time, we will move on their timeline, not mine," she said. It looked as if Loke was about to answer her, when the box flew open and a message in ancient runes was written in golden letters in the air above it.

Lucy quickly translated the ancient language and read the message, "Lucy Heartfilia. You have passed the first test. You may add our keys to your ring, and the right move may reveal us to you. But beware, make one wrong move and you may never see our keys again."

Lucy stared in awe as the stars that made up the runes dissipated before turning to look at the 7 black keys lying in the box, surrounded by a glistening black velvet, shimmering gold flecks making it resemble the night sky filled with its stars.

Each key was pitch black with a single gem on the handle, each a different color, one teal, one purple, one orange, one red, one gold, one blue, and one purple. Lucy vowed to herself to protect the keys and to live up to the spirits' expectations as she carefully slid each key onto her keyring, placing the ring carefully next to her belt on her nightstand, before going to bed, faintly hearing her spirits wishing her goodnight.

And, right before her eyes closed, she thought she heard seven new masculine voices bid her sweet dreams as well, but that may have just been her imagination.

~.~.~

The next morning, they arrived at the guild, ready to go.

"Oi, Bunny Girl, where are your bags, don't tell me a girl like yourself is traveling without a change of clothes?" Gajeel said.

"Well, Gajeel, I was going to offer to have Virgo carry your bags like she's carrying mine, but with a comment like that, I think I might just have you carry your own," she said, sticking her tongue out at him.

She then called out Virgo and had her load up everyone's bags, making it a point to leave Gajeel's until the end, watching as his face turned from initially angry, although she could tell he was just pretending to be angry, to annoyed, and then finally settled on a little pout with his arms crossed over his chest that had Lucy laughing out loud as Virgo went over to collect his stuff.

"Wow, she has you wrapped around her little finger doesn't she, because, I must say, that pout was adorable," Cobra said, laughing from his perch on the bar stool. He was surprised when the blonde had offered to take his bags as well, but he wasn't going to complain. One less thing weighing him down. He wasn't thrilled that he would have to be traveling with Fairy Tail, or with Natsu, and he wasn't even thrilled about meeting these dragons. Half the time, he considered his lacrima more of a curse than a blessing, but at least the journey would serve as a brief taste of freedom from the prison cell he'd been confined to for so long.

"Are we leaving yet? Are we leaving yet?" Sting said excitedly, practically bouncing on his toes in excitement. He was joined by Natsu and the two of them, with the help of Lector and Happy, began a chant of "Let's go! Let's go!"

"No, I need to go over some things with Laxus first," Lucy said, looking pointedly at Natsu and Happy, who immediately shut up and quieted Sting and Lector as well. Lucy was then the receiver of a very appreciative glance courtesy of Rogue, who was sitting in the corner massaging his temples, attempting to dissipate a headache that had been building as a result of Sting's constant talking about the journey and being able to travel with Natsu and Gajeel, and blah, blah, blah. Rogue had stopped paying attention after the first five minutes, but that didn't stop him from talking and his volume from rising with every passing minute.

Lucy smiled at Rogue before turning to Laxus and moving towards a quieter area of the guild to talk over the plan with Laxus.

"Okay, so I have the map and I've marked the area we're heading towards, and with the help of one of my spirits, I've been able to map out the quickest, easiest, and safest route there. We should be able to avoid the worst of the weather and the worst of the magical creatures and it'll only take about a day and half if we follow this route exactly, but we can't even get a mile off course, or we could end up in some pretty questionable territory," Lucy began. "I'm going to need your help keeping them in line. I'm sure Cobra would be more than willing to help as well, Wendy will probably do what she can, and I highly doubt Gajeel and Rogue will be a problem on their own, however the problem is..."

"Natsu and Sting." Laxus finished for her.

"Exactly, if they start fighting or if they get curious and begin to wander off it could send Rogue and Gajeel over the edge, and then you and Cobra will have more than you can handle on your hands alone, and I will not put Wendy in the middle of a fight between the four of them. From what I can tell, Rogue can handle Sting pretty well, and I think Cobra can help keep him in line if he gets really out of hand. I'm going to have to leave it to you and Gajeel to keep Natsu in line. Gajeel and Natsu don't have the best relationship, especially with Natsu always challenging him, but Natsu will probably listen to Gajeel before he listens to Cobra, and if worse comes to worse, I give you permission to fry Natsu unconscious and we'll figure out a way to carry him," Lucy said.

"That sounds like the best plan, I'm sure I can handle fire breath," Laxus said, nodding at her, "and I'm sure those of you that aren't the two idiots heard everything she just said," he said, turning to look in the direction of the other slayers, who all nodded, while Natsu and Sting were just sitting there, obviously attempting to hold in their excitement.

With that, they finally set out, the rest of the guild yelling after them in encouragement for their venture, wishing them luck on their journey.

~.~.~

The journey, although technically only a day and a half, not exactly long by the measurements of some, seemed to drag on forever as they had to continuously separate Sting and Natsu, who were happily walking together one second, while the next they were attempting to destroy the entirety of the forest they were walking through.

However, after that torturous journey, they had finally arrived at the barrier. They had thought that it would be some invisible barrier that someone would run into without knowing, which is why they had put Natsu and Sting in the front around 10 minutes ago, after all, they were stupid enough to agree. They were wrong.

Instead of an invisible wall, there was a gate. Although just calling it a gate would be an understatement. It would be impossible to find the words to describe the beauty, intricacy, and size of the heavenly gates before them. There were no handles on the golden doors, instead only 12 key slots with the Zodiac symbols lying under them.

"Why is it whenever a gate and dragons are involved, the Zodiac keys are needed for it?" Cobra mused, looking over at Lucy.

"I was actually thinking about that too, and we think it's because it has to because of Draco, the Celestial Dragon, like Lahar and Doranbolt said yesterday. Leo said that Draco is essentially the king of the dragons, and that he thinks the reason they're being protected by the celestial gates is because they found refuge with Draco, who hasn't been seen since the rest of the dragons disappeared either," Lucy explained. "Now I think it's time that I opened this gate and we can find your dragons."

One by one, she took the keys off her ring and turned them into their holes. After putting the last key in, she stepped back from the gates, watching as they began opening, the keys flying back to her. With the doors opened, the dragon slayers and Lucy were finally able to step through the gates into the dragons' supposed refuge.

As their feet passed over the threshold, a bright white light encompassed them, blinding them. They heard the closing of the gates and the undeniable feeling of falling until they landed on something solid. When they landed and could finally see again, they were most definitely not in the same forest they had been in only 5 minutes ago. Also, the gate was gone. And the most interesting scene was laid out before them.

Then, an unknown voice said, "Well, that was unexpected."

~.~.~

Luffy's adventure on Little Garden hadn't exactly gone as planned. Then again, there hadn't actually been a plan to begin with, so it would be obvious to say that it hadn't gone as planned. Perhaps, hadn't gone as expected would be a more accurate term to describe the journey.

Between the warring giants and the members of the Straw Hats' newfound enemies in Baroque Works searching for them, they more than had their hands full, not that Luffy particularly paid attention to most of what was going on. At this point, all he knew is that he had to get his friends out of the wax that had encompassed them and was currently growing around them. However his actions were stopped when a giant crash drew their attention away from their waxy problem and towards the eight strangers that had fallen out of the sky, in addition to what looked like 5 cats.

Mr. 5 was the first to break the silence, saying, "Well, that was unexpected." Not wishing for any additional problems, he quickly launched a few bombs in the direction of the strangers, not caring who they were or where they came from. He was on a mission, and he didn't need any additional problems messing with the already complicated Straw Hats.

However, he was surprised when the bombs exploded into flames only to be sucked into what seemed to be some kind of vacuum. Except it wasn't a vacuum, and when the dust cleared, everyone present had to wipe their eyes to ensure they were seeing it properly, because the resulting fire from the explosion was being sucked into a man's mouth.

The man, with what appeared to be pink hair and dark onyx eyes wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Wow that was delicious," he said, looking around. "Now, where's Igneel?"

Finally, his gaze landed on the dumbstruck people in front of them. Cocking his head to the side, Natsu's face turned from hopeful to confused as he said, "You're not Igneel. Actually, you're not dragons at all. Who're you?"

"What do you mean who are we?! You're the ones who fell from the sky! Who are you?!" Mr. 3 yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Huh?" Natsu asked, the confused look on his face becoming even more prominent as he tried to process what Mr. 3 was telling him. From her spot on top of the wax candelabra Nami almost felt like face palming, the similarities between this stranger and her idiotic captain making her more frustrated than she already was. After all, how could there possibly be another man in the world as stupid as Luffy was?

"Natsu, stop being an idiot," a very large blonde man said. He was literally huge, easily the biggest man there, with spiky blonde hair sticking out in every direction and stormy blue eyes. However the most prominent feature was the lightning shaped scar cutting through his eye, if you ignored the very defined muscles visible through his form fitting black shirt, that is.

"What are you talking about?" Natsu said, turning to look at the man. He just rolled his eyes and ignored the pinkette, his eyes rapidly taking in his surroundings, trying to decide the best course of action.

It was the blonde woman that answered him, "Obviously we've been transported somewhere else. I'm not sure where, but we're not in the same forest we were in, the vegetation is all wrong. The information we had was probably false, although it's possible the dragons are somewhere in this forest. Hopefully they know a way out of here, though, because the gate's-" She was cut off when she was suddenly trapped in a wax box.

"Hey, what the hell?!" was heard from the box containing one of the other men of the group, this one with long black hair and blood red eyes, along with several other yells of agreement.

"Well, we'll just have to deal with them after we deal with the Straw Hats, but right now they're our focus," Mr. 3 said, turning his back on the boxes he had formed to jail in the new arrivals.

"Excuse me, but I don't like being ignored."

Turning back around, Mr. 3 almost fell over when he saw what was happening before his eyes. Coming from the box containing the voice there was suddenly a long blade resembling a chainsaw, the metal gleaming in the light and looking sharp enough to rip straight through steel, which it was obviously capable of as it easily sliced through the wax box. The box fell in two pieces to the sides to reveal the man with the long black hair, his red eyes gleaming, and his dozens of piercings shining in the light. However, everyone was a bit taken aback when they saw that what they had believed to be some sort of sword was revealed to be nothing other than his arm, their surprise becoming even more pronounced when the blade morphed back into an arm before their eyes. Sitting on his shoulder was a black cat with a large scar over its eye and its arms crossed as he glared in the direction of Mr. 3 and Mr. 5.

'Wh-what the hell?' Zoro thought as he watched how easily the blade went through the wax and observing the blade become an arm.

"Ugh, I was in the middle of talking you know," the blonde girl's voice came from inside the box, but then she wasn't inside the box anymore. Instead, she was coming out of the ground in the arms of a pink haired maid that had most definitely not been present before, leaving everyone wondering where she had come from. The blonde was holding a golden key in her hand and as the pink haired girl set her down on the ground she twirled the key around her finger, saying, "Okay, you can go back now, Virgo." With that, the pink haired girl disappeared in a white puff of smoke as the key glowed, and the girl put the key back on a key ring with over a dozen other keys, in gold, silver, and black.

"Well, that wasn't very nice," said a voice. The voice was coming from another one of the boxes, this one was glowing from under the wax. As the wax melted, another blonde man was revealed, also very muscular and with a scar over one of his eyes, however he wasn't quite as big, and his mouth was set more in a mischievous smirk than a scowl. The man seemed to be the source of the light, because after the wax had finished melting, the light receded into the man. He was holding a red cat in his arms. He smirked as if he was ready to fight with them, "We don't even know you, and yet that's the second time you attacked us. What kind of mages would we be if we didn't at least fight back?"

"Sting, don't be rash, you idiot," came a bored voice from another box. Seeping out of this particular box were shadows, making their way between the wax and the ground, and coming from the shadows was another man. Like the man with the metal arm, he also had black hair and red eyes, but he didn't have any piercings and was a bit shorter than the first. Hiding behind his leg was a small green cat wearing a pink frog suit. When he was completely out of the shadows, he pulled the blonde man, Sting, back next to him. "You don't make the calls on this mission, Lucy and Laxus do."

Suddenly, lightning struck, literally. Coming from the sky, a single powerful strike hit one of the boxes, shattering it to a million pieces. The large blonde man from earlier stood inside, sparks flying off his body. He didn't need to say anything, because his anger was easily detectable in his glare and the scowl on his face. Mr. 3 was so terrified of just that one look that he was pretty sure he peed himself, immediately regretting his decision to trap them in those boxes.

They weren't able to pay attention to the blonde man for long before an explosion was heard and the melted, burnt wax was all that was left of the box holding the pinkette, Natsu, he had been called, who's body was currently engulfed in flames. "I'm all fired up!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, lunging towards Mr. 3, causing him to pee himself again, before he was zapped with some lightning, receiving a glare from the larger blonde man that made him immediately extinguish his flames, however that was possible. Finally, hanging off of his back was a blue cat.

The next box to be destroyed was releasing toxic chemicals as the box melted, some sort of purple liquid seeping from under the wax killing the grass around it as a tanned man stepped from out of the box, his one open eye taking in his surroundings, not saying anything. He had spiky red hair and when he opened his mouth to lick his lips, picking up a drop of the same purple liquid that was killing everything it came in contact with, fangs were visible.

Everyone's eyes shifted to the final box, waiting to see how the final person in their group escaped from its clutches. The wax shattered, and when it did, a giant whirlwind of air emerged from it. When the wind cleared and they were able to see the person standing inside, their jaws dropped. Inside stood a small girl, holding a white cat in her arms, her long blue hair in twin pigtails at the top of her head. "Ugh, how rude," the cat said. The girl shushed her, "Carla don't be mean."

It was official, the Straw Hats and Baroque Works agents alike were confused out of their mind. Who were these people?

"You know, that's the second time you've attacked us in the five minutes we've been here, and we don't take kindly to unwarranted attacks," Laxus growled out.

All of the dragon slayers' noses crinkled when the distinct scent of urine entered their senses, their attention shifting towards the man with the ridiculous hair shaped as a 3. Gajeel lifted a pierced eyebrow and laughed out loud at the man, his "Gihihi" only bringing further fear from the man.

"Natsu, take care of explosive guy, Gajeel take care of the guy that just pissed his pants," Laxus said, looking at Lucy out of the corner of his eye for confirmation. When she nodded her head at him, they went to work.

Laxus and the others were content to sit back and watch, well not really Sting, but Rogue held him back, explaining that they didn't need any further problems and telling him to sit still and behave.

Explosive after explosive was fired towards Natsu, who just swallowed the fire down, and Mr. 5 had no idea how to respond to the defense, only fearing what kind of attack could possibly come from a man who could eat fire.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" came from his mouth, his hands forming into fists in front of his fists. Some sort of circle that he didn't recognize formed in front of his hands and suddenly a whirlwind of flames approached him at an unbelievable speed. He barely had time to be surprised before the blackness took him.

Mr. 3 didn't even have time to be concerned about his fellow Baroque Works member, too busy worrying about his own opponent, who looked like he was having entirely too much fun. His smile clearly showed off teeth sharpened to a point, and Mr. 3 gulped, looking around for an exit. He wasn't sure if he'd rather face this guy or Mr. 0 at this point. At least with Mr. 0, he knew what he was getting into, this guy was a wild card, and he was beginning to think "wild" was a mild term to use to describe the man.

He wasn't given much time to contemplate his options before a whirlwind similar to the pinkette's fire came towards him, this time, though, the whirlwind was made of shards of metal cutting him all over, but at least his pain was short lived, because it was only moments before he fell unconscious.

"Well now that that's out of the way, we can figure out our next move," Lucy said, turning to look at the dragon slayers. Suddenly though, she felt something wet on her back.

"What the?" she said, looking over her shoulder to see what was on her back. There was yellow paint on her back, and she couldn't help but wonder what on earth it was. She felt the urge to laugh for some reason, but didn't understand why. She shook off the feeling, now wasn't the time to laugh, and then turned her attention to find the source of the paint.

"Why aren't you laughing?" a small girl asked.

"Huh? Who're you?" Lucy said, looking at the girl.

"I asked why you weren't laughing."

"Well, for some reason, I do feel like laughing, but this is a serious situation, therefore it would be inappropriate time to laugh, so I'm not laughing," Lucy said.

"But, anyone who has the yellow mark from my brush has to laugh," the little girl said.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Lucy said. The dragon slayers were just watching Lucy as she talked to the little girl, deciding she probably wasn't much of a threat.

"See," the girl said, taking some more yellow paint and splashing it onto Natsu who then began to laugh uncontrollably, rolling around on the floor.

"Natsu, stop being an idiot and get up," Laxus said. Cobra nudged him with his foot, just short of being an actual kick.

"I- I- ahahahahaah- I can't - hahah – I can't stop," he finally got out, stopping every few seconds to laugh.

"It's my devil fruit power, when I paint someone, they're slaves to color. Yellow is the Color of Laughter. Only those with a strong will can resist the power of my colors," the little girl said. Instead of being met with fear or even trepidation, for the most part, she was met with boredom and confusion.

"Lucy, what do we do with her?" Laxus whispered to Lucy. "I'm not really sure what a devil fruit is or what that means, and she doesn't really seem dangerous, but at the same time she seems like she could be a nuisance. I don't really wanna knock her out, but I don't know what else to do."

"I'll take care of it," Lucy sighed. Where the hell were they? What the hell was a devil fruit? She'd never heard of that kind of magical item, and she'd never heard of this kind of 'color magic' before.

"Open: Gate of the Maiden: Virgo!" Lucy called out, pulling out the golden key. The pink maid from before reappeared, and she told Virgo to tie the girl up and put her up against a tree, sure that the other two men would take care of her once they came to and the rest of them were gone.

A splash of black appeared on Virgo's shirt.

"Be careful! That color makes her do the opposite of what her friends tell her," the orange haired girl trapped in the giant wax candelabra exclaimed. The dragon slayers and Lucy all turned over to her, they had completely forgotten about them. Considering they hadn't interfered in their fight, if you could call it that, and they were now trying to help, they decided to leave them alone for now, deciding they probably weren't enemies.

However, to Nami's surprise, Virgo just went and tied the girl up.

"Wait, only those with a strong will can resist my colors. First that blonde girl, and now you, you're completely subservient to her, how could you possibly have a strong enough will to escape the power of the colors?!" she exclaimed, thrashing in an effort to escape Virgo's ties.

"I am bound by celestial law to obey the word of Princess, it would take a far superior power to yours for me to break my contract to Princess," she said, before disappearing back to wherever she came from.

With their three opponents, again, if you could call them that, no longer in the way, the Earthlanders once again turned their attention to each other to try to figure out their next move.

~.~.~

"SO COOOOOOOOL!" Luffy exclaimed, staring at the newcomers with stars in his eyes. Their heads turned towards the boy.

"LUFFY! Stop messing around and get us out of here!" Nami said, her attention no longer on the newcomers and instead on her own dire situation as the wax continued to engulf her.

"Oh, right!" He said, turning his attention to his friends, but before he could do anything, a flash of lightning struck down, hitting the candelabra and freeing Zoro, Vivi, Nami, and Brogy from the wax.

Luffy turned his attention back to the newcomers again, stars once again entering his eyes, "WOW! Thanks!"

"Yea, no problem kid. Now could one of you please tell us where the hell we are?" the bigger blonde man said.

"You're on Little Garden," Brogy said, smiling at the man.

"Little Garden? Where the hell is that?" the black haired man with the piercings said.

"On the Grand Line," Nami said, how did they not at least know that they were on the Grand Line? It was pretty hard to accidentally end up on the Grand Line.

"The Grand what?" the pink haired one said, him and the smaller blonde man cocking their heads to the side, looking like confused puppies.

"You... you don't know what the Grand Line is?" Vivi said in disbelief.

"Um... no?" the little girl with blue hair said, looking at the blonde woman with big eyes, clearly confused.

"Ughhh... not again," the blonde said, her head falling forward into her hands.

"Not... again?" the Straw Hats said in unison, looking at her.

"What are you talking about?" the red-headed man said.

"Ahhh, shit," the black haired man with the piercings said, while the other black haired man just looked at him with a confused expression.

"Luce... what are you talking about? I don't remember ever being here before," the pinkette said.

"Shut up, Natsu," the blonde said, turning her attention to the Straw Hats.

"Excuse me, are we on Earthland? Have you ever heard of Fiore?" she said, looking at them hopefully, even though she was pretty sure she knew what was going on.

"Um... I've never heard of either of those," Nami said, watching as the girl fell to the ground, head in her hands.

"Why is it always me? How the hell did I end up in another world with these six idiots and only Wendy to help me with them?" she cried into her hands. The girl with blue hair gently put a hand on the blonde's shoulder.

A lightbulb seemed to go off in the pinkette's head, "We're in another world again, aren't we?"

"Yes, you idiot," the blonde girl said from the ground.

"What do you mean again?" the red-head said.

"Yes, what do you mean again?" echoed the smaller blonde, with an accompanying nod from the piercing-less black haired man.

"It's a long story, but this is the second time we've been transported to another world against our will," the man with the longer black hair said.

"I'm guessing Mystogan isn't around with another Anima this time," Laxus sighed, "We'll have to figure out some other way to get home this time."

"Come on guys, don't look so down, this'll be fun!" the pinkette exclaimed, giving the smaller blonde a high five.

"Natsu, can you be serious for one second?!" The blonde girl growled, lunging towards him, but the blonde with the lightning scar wrapped an arm around her waist to stop her.

The blonde quickly composed herself, but the lightning man kept his arm around her, as if prepared for her to lash out again. She sent him a pointed look and he quickly dropped his arm.

She then turned her attention towards the Straw Hats and their friends, "Hello, you wouldn't happen to know how to travel between worlds, would you?" she asked, her smile far too wide, and slightly unnerving the Straw Hats as they looked at it.

"Um, I'm afraid not," Nami said, smiling uneasily.

"Well, then you wouldn't know where we could find the nearest train would you?" She asked.

This time Brogy answered, "Oh, we don't have anything like that here, this place is practically abandoned."

The blonde's face dropped and she looked like she was about to break down and take out her anger on the pinkette who was still grinning like an idiot with the smaller blonde.

"JOIN MY CREW!" Luffy shouted.

"LUFFY! This is NOT the time! Can't you see they're upset?!" Nami yelled, hitting Luffy over the head.

"But Namiiii, they're so cool, and we can take them with us and they can ask around about getting back to their world!" Luffy whined, nursing his head.

Nami was about to hit him again when she was interrupted by the blonde, "Actually, that's not a bad idea," Lucy said, considering.

"Oh, well... if you're considering it, then you should know that we're pirates," Nami said. Immediately, most of the people in front of her took up a defensive stance and Lucy's eyes widened.

"Pirates?" she said.

Nami, fearing for her life at the glares of the men, and women, before her, quickly began to explain, "But we're not bad pirates, not really anyways. I mean, Luffy has a bounty, but we don't hurt innocent people, and we're only really pirates to reach our goals, none of which are bad, we just want to be free. Besides, the Marines here are really corrupt, and-"

"Corrupt?" the blonde girl narrowed her eyes, "How so?"

"Well, they just are, they treat their prisoners horribly, and they don't even follow the laws they set, and they treat everyone like scum and they're entitled," she began.

"Another corrupt government? It seems like every world we come to, we're destined to be on the opposite side of the law," the one with the piercings grumbled.

"Well, I don't have a problem with it," the red-head said, smirking.

"Shut it, Cobra," the blonde girl said. "You don't get a say." He just smirked at her again, this time exposing his fangs.

The blonde seemed to be considering things, "Okay. We'll join you, for now at least, considering it seems you're our only way off the island. But if we see anything we don't like, we're gone."

Luffy started celebrating, and Nami sighed out of relief.

"Okay then, I'm Nami, the navigator of the crew. The green haired man is Zoro, the swordsman. Don't be offended if he glares at you, he glares at everyone. The idiot yelling is Luffy, he's the captain, no matter how hard it is to believe, and he has a bounty of 30,000,000 berries, which is a lot, since you guys probably don't know anything about our currency, I'll go over that with you later. And the blue haired girl is Vivi, she's a friend of ours, we're helping her out with a problem, but we'll explain more about that later. Right now, we should head over to the ship and you can meet the last two members of the crew."

They all nodded and followed her. When they got to the ship, Natsu turned green at just the thought of riding it.

"Can't I just fly with Happy?" He begged, with Sting nodding along with him pleadingly. Gajeel, Rogue, and Laxus although not quite as green or desperate definitely didn't look pleased at the thought of riding the ship.

"Don't be ridiculous, the Exceeds can't carry you for that long, now suck it up and deal with it," Lucy said. Cobra snickered at them, which earned him several glares from the dragon slayers and a pointed look from Lucy.

A blonde was waiting for them, along with a man with curly black hair. The blonde looked up and immediately hearts grew in his eyes as he bounded towards them, exclaiming, "Who is this beautiful, voluptuous blonde you found?!"

Lucy looked horrified as she thought he might shove his face right into her breasts, but then there was a body in front of her. She thought it had been one of the slayers, which wouldn't be entirely out of character, given that more than one of them were quite protective of her, but when she looked up she didn't recognize him.

He had dark purple hair that was up in a small spike, with just the right amount of messiness. His dark purple five o'clock shadow covered his angular jaw, and his eyes were the same shade as his hair. His skin was tanned to have an olive complexion. He had on almost nothing, except for a dark purple and white pair of shorts that went down to just above his knees. Somehow sheathed in the shorts, he had 8 daggers, four on each side. The hilts of the daggers were pitch black, and encrusted with amethysts, while the blades were the same dark purple as his hair and eyes. In his left ear was an amethyst stud, and on his back protruded a pair of huge, beautiful deep purple wings. However, his eyes weren't on her, they were on the blonde man, glaring at him, "You don't touch her," he growled out.

The blonde, who had fallen on his butt after slamming into the man, scrambled backwards in fear of the man's glare.

"Hey! Who're you?!" Natsu yelled, lighting himself on fire, to the surprise of the blonde haired man and the black haired man the Earthlanders had yet to meet. The man merely glared at him, staring him down.

"Natsu! Back off," Lucy said, her eyes wide, barely holding her composure as she stared at the man before her.

I can't believe one of them came so quickly, I thought I'd have to wait months before one came... she thought in disbelief.

"Hello, I'm Asmodeus, the Prince of Lust," he said, smirking down at her.


	2. We Need a Doctor

Chapter 2: We Need a Doctor

It was silent for a few seconds while everyone stared at the man who was staring at Lucy. Unfortunately the silence didn't last long as Usopp screeched out, "WHERE THE HECK DID THAT GUY COME FROM?!" pulling Nami in front of him and using her as a shield from the terrifying looking man in front of him.

Luffy had stars in his eyes as he looked at the man, but before he could say anything, Lucy quickly looked over at everyone and said, "Leave."

It looked for a moment like some wouldn't follow, but the look in her eyes had Natsu practically flying to the boat for shelter, Sting hot on his tail, Gajeel and Rogue were a bit more composed but they, too both speedily walking away from the blonde, even Laxus made his way to the boat, with a scowling Cobra and a worried looking Wendy following behind. A few of the straw hats quickly got the hint from the boys that it wouldn't be a good idea for them to ignore her order and made their way to the boat, with Nami dragging Luffy and Zoro dragging Sanji with them.

"Hello Asmodeus, my name is Lucy Heartfilia," she said, trying her best to give him a warm smile, but she couldn't deny the fear mixed with excitement she felt from coming face to face with the spirit.

"I know," he answered, a slight smirk on his lips as he looked her over, walking around her in a circle, making her fidget a little as she attempted to stay still.

"I assume you know what I am," he said when he had come full circle, once again face to face as he looked her in the eyes.

"I'm afraid I don't know too much, just that you're one of the 7 Princes of Hell, some of the most powerful and the rarest spirits in the Celestial Spirit world," she answered him, looking down as she was afraid to meet his eyes.

He put his finger under her chin, lifting it up until her eyes were once again on his. "That is far more than most know about us."

She simply nodded at him as she kept eye contact.

"It's been a long time since I have felt the pull to leave the Celestial World for a Mage, you should feel honored, my Goddess," he said, and when her eyes widened at his name for her, he smiled, "You must know why I'm here. I want to make a contract with you, and, as you must know, all of the Seven Princes are fallen angels, that makes you our Goddess."

"You-you actually want to make a contract with me?" she said, her eyes wide in disbelief.

"Of course I do, for you have the virtue that I value," he said, and when her mouth opened to ask a question, he shook his head, her mouth snapping shut once again, causing him to smile. "A contract with me, and contracts with my brothers, whom I'm sure you'll meet in the future, are different from regular celestial contracts. We are available whenever you need us, whenever you want us, and we'll often come to you even when you don't call, if we feel you're in danger," he said. "I have two primary abilities. For physical combat I have my daggers, and I have power over the element of darkness."

"Okay, I understand," Lucy said, smiling at him, she was already starting to feel comfortable around him.

"There's a few other things you should know. First, I'm possessive, I don't like it when others mess with my keyholders, especially my goddesses. You're mine, and I protect what's mine. Our relationship is mutual, I WILL protect you, but in turn, you must work to protect me. I will protect you at all times, at all costs. That brings us to the other thing you need to know. Even if you lose my key, I will be able to come to you and protect you, and you'll be able to call me."

"How?"

"Let's just say, you'll always have a piece of me with you," he said.

Then he smirked, before wrapping his hand around her head, fingers tangling into her hair. He smirked before bringing his head close to her, laying his lips in a gentle kiss on her forehead, before he placed his forehead on hers, keeping eye contact, as he disappeared, a gentle smile replacing his smirk.

She took a deep breath, trying to figure out what he had meant and trying to digest the new information she had gained. What had he meant by the virtue he valued? Obviously he couldn't tell her, but was it meant to be something she figured out on her own or was he trying to prevent her from figuring out the others' tests? And how would he be able to come to her and she be able to call him even if she lost his key, which she would obviously try her best to never let happen?

She shook her head, she could think about this later, and he if he didn't tell her, maybe she wasn't supposed to know. She made her way onto the ship, and the moment she did, 3 very concerned dragon slayers practically jumped on her, asking questions and checking her for injuries.

"Guys, I'm fine, I promise, I'm fine," she said, smiling at them. "That was one of my new spirits. I'm afraid I can't tell you much about them, so please don't ask me questions. And Cobra, stay out of my head," she said, sending a look towards him.

He just nodded, he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know anyways. He remembered even Angel couldn't tell Brain some things about the Celestial World, no matter how much he asked. If she wasn't able to say, he wouldn't pry.

After that, the crew set sail, and with the help of the giants on Little Garden, they were able to continue on their journey.

~.~.~

"Hey Luce, since when were your eyes purple?" Natsu said, taking her face and opening up her lids to look closer into them, while she tried to back out of Natsu's hands.

"Natsu what the hell are you talking about?" Gajeel said, before going to look in her eyes, "Shit Bunny, your eyes are purple, Wendy, is she sick or something?"

Wendy came over to take a look, asking Gajeel and Natsu to move away, which they reluctantly did, while Lucy asked, "Wendy, what are they talking about?"

"Hmmm," Wendy said, looking into Lucy's eyes, "Well, even though they said your eyes are purple, they didn't change completely, they just have little flecks of purple throughout the brown, I can't think of any disease that would cause this, but I can try healing you, if you want," she said, looking worried.

"No, it's okay," Lucy said, smiling, remembering what Asmodeus had told her about always having a piece of him, 'So this is what he meant...'

"I'll be fine, I know it's not dangerous, actually its probably the opposite," she said, looking at everyone.

The Straw Hats had just been sitting quietly, watching, when Luffy suddenly exclaimed, "SO COOL! What was that, and where did that guy come from! What are you guys!"

"LUFFY CALM DOWN," Nami said, hitting him over the head with her fist.

"It's okay. It's understandable that he's confused, let us explain everything, or almost everything. My name is Lucy Heartfilia, and I am a Celestial Mage, which I'll explain later. The tall blonde man with the lightning scar is Laxus Dreyar, he's a Second Generation Lightning Dragon Slayer, the other blonde man is Sting Eucliffe, a Third Generation Light Dragon Slayer, the red cat he's holding is Lector, an Exceed, the black haired man next to him is Rogue Cheney, a Third Generation Shadow Dragon Slayer, and the green cat next to him in the pink frog suit is Frosh, his Exceed. The other black haired man with the piercings is Gajeel Redfox, a First Generation Iron Dragon Slayer, and the black cat on his shoulder is Pantherlily, another Exceed. The pink haired man is Natsu Dragneel, a First Generation Fire Dragon Slayer, and the blue cat is Happy, also an Exceed. The last man is Cobra, a Second Generation Poison Dragon Slayer, and finally, the girl is Wendy, a First Generation Sky Dragon Slayer, and the white cat is Carla, her Exceed. It's a pleasure to meet you all." Lucy smiled at them, while the others behind them either smiled, smirked, or just nodded their heads as their names were called.

"LUCY. WHATS A CELESTIAL MAGE AND WHAT ARE DRAGON SLAYERS?" Luffy screamed stars shining in his eyes once again.

Lucy then shot into an explanation of her magic and dragon slayer magic, explaining each, and when she was done, most of the Straw Hat crew seemed to have at least a basic understanding of each.

Then there was Luffy, who just nodded before saying, "So they're mystery powers."

"NO YOU MORON!" Nami said, hitting him over the head again.

By the time the explanation had finished it was lunch time and they were settling down when Virgo appeared, bowing, "Hello Princess, since you have now found a more permanent place to rest, I can bring your belongings from the spirit world if you would like."

"Oh Virgo, yes, please, that would be a big help, thank you, um, Nami, where can we put our stuff?" she asked, turning to the navigator.

"Oh your stuff can go in the girls room, third door to your right, and the boys' stuff can go in the boys' room third door on your left... It might be a bit tight though..." Nami said.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure all of us have dealt with a bit worse than some cramped living spaces, at least I have," Cobra said, looking at her. The other Dragon Slayers nodded, agreeing with him.

"Oh, okay," Nami smiled at them.

Virgo came back to them when she had finished bringing their stuff, "I have finished, Princess."

"Thank you Virgo," Lucy said with a wide smile.

"Punishment?" The pink haired spirit asked, a gleam in her eyes.

Lucy sighed and shook her head, "No Virgo," while the others just snickered a bit at the spirit.

"What?! Lucy?! You punish your spirits! I thought you would be nicer than that to them!" Zoro yelled out incredulously.

"I never punish my spirits," Lucy said, dead serious. She wasn't necessarily mad at Zoro for the assumption, but just at the thought of hurting them. "Many of my spirits have been punished by their previous key holders. They all have very unique personalities, for example, Virgo always asks for punishment and Aries always apologizes, even when she's done nothing wrong. Many Celestial Mages don't understand or acknowledge that spirits are living beings as well, so they mistreat them and abuse them, but that's not me, and my goal is to change the perception of celestial mages."

Zoro looked at her, and he could tell that she was serious about what she had said. She obviously didn't take kindly to the thought of her spirits in pain, and he could see that she was strong willed and had a strong moral sense. He nodded at her and then continued eating.

After lunch, Nami said that she wasn't feeling well and went to lay down.

"Hey Wendy, do you think you could take a look and see what's wrong with her?" Gajeel asked the little blunette.

"I suppose I could, however, I don't know much about diseases here and how my magic may react to it. In our world, my magic already knows the best way to treat each disease or poison, it's part of my healing magic's inherent ability, however, with no knowledge about this world and it's diseases or poisons, I'm afraid I don't know if I should try to heal her, because my magic won't know what to do and might end up making it worse. I also don't know how their bodies might react to magic. On Earthland, the people there have constant interaction with magic due to the ethernanos in the air, but here, they don't have that, so they've never been exposed to magic before. I'm afraid of using my magic for healing yet at this point without knowing more..." Wendy trailed off, looking over towards the doors to the room Nami was sleeping in.

"Oh, okay I get it," Gajeel said, nodding. She didn't want to risk her magic doing the wrong thing because of lack of information and making it worse.

The crew then started debating about what they should do. They could continue on to Alabasta and hope they reach it in time to find Nami a doctor there, or they could stop at the nearest island and find a doctor there before continuing on to Alabasta.

When the crew was trying to decide what to do about Nami and her mysterious illness, which seemed to be getting worse by the minute, Nami decided to reveal the newspaper that she had been hiding from Vivi. The newspaper held tragic news about the state of Alabasta. Nami's goal was to convince Vivi to continue on straight to Alabasta, because of the situation there. She didn't want the crew to be held up because she was a little sick.

After a long time considering the options, Vivi decided that if they wanted to arrive at Alabasta safely, they needed Nami to navigate the treacherous Grand Line waters, and in order for that to happen, they needed a doctor to restore their navigator back to full health.

Shortly after the decision was made, Zoro noticed a man standing directly on top of the ocean. Not believing his eyes, he called the others over, pointing out his discovery. The Fairy Tail mages did not seem all that impressed, I mean they had witnessed Acnologia; a man walking, or standing, on water wasn't anything to write home about.

Then the boat approached them, and so did the vile man that called himself Wapol. The dragon slayers decided immediately that they didn't like his smell. He smelled like corruption and grease. When he started eating the boat, their faces scrunched up in curious disgust, except for Rogue, whose face remained blank, but he was definitely feeling the same as the three mages next to him. While he was eating the boat, Lucy could also feel a slight tingling at her side but ignored it in favor of watching Luffy.

Luffy, seeing the damage that Wapol was doing to his boat, immediately pistoled him into the ocean, while Wapol's "crew" followed after him hurriedly, and the Going Merry continued on its course to the closest island, which was extremely close by.

"Wow Luffy, what was that? I come from a land of magic and I've never seen anything quite like that," Wendy said, looking at the boy.

"Oh, I'm a rubber man," Luffy said, stretching out his face.

"What the hell is a rubber man? And how the hell can you even do that? I thought there wasn't any magic here?" Laxus said.

"I ate the Gum Gum fruit," Luffy said smiling, as if that explained everything.

"The what?" Cobra said, eyebrow raising.

Vivi then decided to fill them in on what devil fruits were and how they worked.

"So they gain some ability but they can't swim? Doesn't sound like a good deal to me," Gajeel said.

"Me neither, I don't think I'll ever eat a devil fruit, I'll just continue training with my swords. That's my goal, to become the strongest swordsman in the world," Zoro said, smirking.

"You're a swordsman? No wonder you kinda remind me of Erza," Natsu said smiling, "Can you do a bunch of fancy stuff with your swords?!" he asked excitedly, Sting nodding along with him.

"I don't know what you mean by fancy, but I use the three sword style, two in my hands and one in my mouth, and who's Erza?" he asked.

"Erza is our friend, she uses requip magic," Lucy explained, along with a brief explanation of Erza's magic, "She's a very skilled swordswoman, it's a shame she's not here, I'm sure you two would have fun sparring."

"I hope I get to meet her one day," Zoro said, smirking, wondering what fighting someone with her abilities would be like. It would really help build up versatility in his swordsmanship.

When they finally reached the island, they reached some trouble with the people of the village. The mages watched on silently at what was happening, Lucy and Laxus knowing that this would be an indication of how they would proceed with the Straw Hats, while the others acknowledged that this was a show of their character and that Lucy would use it to determine whether or not they would stay. Lucy was pleased when she saw Luffy bow down before the villagers, acknowledging the humility as a positive trait, as well as his willingness to sacrifice for his crew. She got down on her knees and bowed down with him, showing her support for Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates.

When they were allowed onto the island, Luffy carried Nami, along with Sanji, Usopp, Lucy, and Vivi, to the village, hoping to find a doctor there, while the injured Zoro stayed with Carue and the rest of the Earthland mages, who decided to stay on the boat as they weren't necessarily needed.

When they entered the town, the Straw Hats and Lucy learned that there weren't actually any doctors in town due to the corruption of the previous king of Drum Island, causing the Straw Hats to become enraged. However, there was nothing they could do at that point, so Luffy decided he would carry Nami up the mountain with the help of Sanji and Lucy, who insisted on coming.

While making their way up the mountain, they were attacked by a group of laphans, or giant, man eating rabbits. Sanji and Lucy fought them off, with the help of Loke in Lucy's case, in order to protect Luffy, and in turn, Nami. However, Sanji fell unconscious while protecting Luffy and Nami from an incoming avalanche, caused by the laphans, prompting Lucy to take Nami onto her back and Luffy to take Sanji onto his. As they continued their journey, Luffy helped a baby laphan pull his father out of the snow before they continued on their way, causing Lucy to smile at his small act of mercy, thinking, 'They may be pirates, but at least they have a sense of morality and mercy.'

~.~.~

Back down at the ship, Zoro had gone off to train, while the dragon slayers and exceeds remained on the boat, just relaxing and arguing with each other over stupid things, until they spotted Wapol's ship pulling up to Drum Island.

"Isn't that the fat ass that Luffy blasted into the ocean earlier?" Gajeel asked, looking over towards the ship.

"Yea, it is," Laxus said, "Come on, we should head onto the island to warn the townspeople. This guy won't show them mercy, and I don't think the townspeople have the manpower or the fighting skills to fight him off, we should help."

The other dragon slayers agreed and they all headed into town, following the scents of the townspeople from earlier. When they got there, they found Wapol and his two second in commands already gone, while the town was being harassed by Wapol's men. They quickly walked over to where Vivi and Usopp were at, and Zoro arrived at the same time as them, shivering and half naked.

"Dude what the hell are you wearing, are you an idiot?" Gajeel asked looking over the man.

"Hey Usopp, can I borrow your coat?" Zoro asked with chattering teeth.

"Hell. No." Usopp said, glaring at him.

Zoro grimaced before turning towareds the commotion. Upon seeing what was going on, he went to the center, taking a few swords from people he passed, then he knocked out one of the guards.

Before taking his coat.

"Ahhh, this is so warm!" Zoro said, rubbing his arms. He then turned his attention towards the rest of the army before him, taking two swords in his hands and placing one in his mouth, he beat down the remainder of them. The dragon slayers and exceeds watched him, impressed by his ability. Sure, the soldiers there weren't the highest caliber fighters, but there was still a significant amount of them, so it was impressive to them that he was able to cut down so many people at once.

Zoro then walked away from the unconscious man back towards them, then took a really good look at them, noticing that Gajeel, Sting, Wendy, and Natsu weren't wearing coats, the others were, but they always wore coats. "Hey, aren't you guys cold? If you are, go take one of those guys' coats, they're really warm."

"Not really," Natsu grinned at him.

"Natsu doesn't get cold, because he's the fire dragon slayer, and Sting doesn't usually get cold either since he's the light dragon slayer, which is heat kinda, and then Gajeel and Wendy are probably just used to it because of Gray," Laxus explained.

"Who's Gray?" Vivi asked.

"He's an ice mage that strips a lot," Rogue said, giving a very accurate representation of the mage, albeit rather direct and blunt.

"Oh... I see," Vivi said a little embarrassed, before asking, "So because he's an ice mage, it's cold around him, so they're used to the cold from being around him?"

"Yea, sounds about right," Gajeel shrugged.

"Um.. Excuse me, but Vivi, where are the others?" Wendy asked nervously. She was worried about Nami.

"They had to climb up the mountain, because the only doctor on this island lives on the top of the mountain, well the only doctor on the island that isn't reserved for that despicable man that calls himself a king," Vivi said, her voice filled with disgust at the end.

"What are you talking about?" Sting asked.

Vivi then explained everything that was happening on the island, from Wapol, to the banishment of the doctors, to Blackbeard, to their current situation. At the end all of the Dragon Slayers had looks of disgust upon their face.

"I'm a criminal and even I think that's poor form, if you have people under your protection and rule, you stay to fight with them, not run away like a coward," Cobra said, growling, thinking about how Wapol would have gotten along well with the people in charge of the Tower of Heaven, and probably Brain too.

"Yes, he's not a leader, he's a coward greedy for power," Vivi said, glaring up at the mountain where Wapol had headed.

"Guys! Can you please help us? We need to find Dalton and get him out of the ice!" One of the villagers said to them.

All of them immediately set to work to find Dalton and get him out of the snow.

~.~.~

Lucy and Luffy were making their way up the mountain when they were stopped by Wapol and his two henchman, who were trying to stop them from making their way up the mountain. Luffy and Lucy were trying desperately to avoid the attacks in order to avoid hurting their friends that they were holding. Then, all of a sudden, the lahpans came out and stood in between Wapol and them.

The little laphan they had helped earlier turned to them and gestured to them that the laphans would take care of it and for them to continue on. Lucy and Luffy thanked them before working towards the castle. Then, they came face to face to the straight up wall they would have to climb to reach the top. They looked at each other before continuing on up.

Lucy looked towards Luffy as she was climbing, she was worried about him, he had no protection from the snow, no jacket or pants, or even shoes or gloves. Even she had a coat on, as well as gloves and leggings, and she was used to the constant cold from Gray. She was worried that when they reached the top, he too would need medical attention.

The journey up was long and painful, and she could see that Luffy's hands had started cracking and that he was turning blue nearly everywhere, but she was taken aback by his loyalty and the love he had for his friends. He honestly did remind her of Natsu, and that thought made her smile.

They continued up the steep incline until they reached the top, both thoroughly exhausted and Luffy on the brink of complete frostbite, almost falling off of the top with Sanji, and Lucy could only watch as her eyes began drooping, about to pass out.

Then her eyes widened, only slightly, when she saw a large furry animal like human, or human like animal possibly, come and drag Luffy up before picking all four of them up and walking them towards the castle, and she finally closed her eyes and slept.

~.~.~

When she woke up, she was in a room with Nami and a small reindeer standing on two legs. She blinked a few times, rubbing her eyes, and when she was sure it was actually an upright reindeer, looked at Nami, who shrugged at her. Lucy shrugged back and just decided to accept it, after all, the little guy was cute.

When the reindeer turned around to check on the two girls and noticed them staring he jumped up and ran to hide behind a wall, or attempt to hide would be more accurate. He was still entirely noticeable, and when Nami pointed it out to him, he simply switched sides, however he was still fairly noticeable causing both girls to giggle slightly as they looked at the little guy.

The day continued on, with the doctor explaining to them what they had and what the boys had, how recovery would happen and so on, while Sanji and Luffy chased the little reindeer, whose name they had learned was Chopper, around the castle.

When Nami had asked how Chopper was able to walk and talk, the doctor went into an explanation about the poor guy's past, causing both girls to tear up several times, and impressing them by telling them that Chopper was a doctor, and a skilled and knowledgeable one at that.

However, the relative peace of the day was gone when they discovered that Wapol ahd made his way to the castle and was outside waiting for them.

"Ugh, can't he leave us alone?" Lucy complained, getting out of bed, knowing she should help Luffy and Sanji in defeating them. All of them, with the exception of Nami, made their way out of the castle to meet Wapol and his two men.

It was then, during the beginning of the oncoming battle, when they discovered the abilities of Wapol's men, with the weird static electricity and the bow and arrow created a near perfect combination in taking out enemies.

However, it was also then that they truly discovered what Wapol's devil fruit could do, that he could turn into what he eats. Then, Luffy remembers that he once again neglected to put on a coat, and while he was running inside, Lucy and Sanji try to distract Wapol and his men from destroying the pirate flag that was flying and from sieging the castle where their friend was resting.

While Wapol's two men began naming off the foods that Wapol had eaten during the day, Lucy was actually disgusted, adding on to the distaste she already had towards him from learning about him abandoning his country in their time of need. Not only was he hungry for anything he could get his mouth on, he was hungry for money and for power, and it reminded her of how her father used to be, which made her all the more angrier.

Then there was a flash of orange. A tall, muscular, man appeared out of the flash. His hair was a burnt orange, and shot out in random ruffled spikes, and he had some scruff around his jaw line matching the color of his hair, and his eyes were the same shade as his hair. He only had on black pants, with an orange belt strung around his waist. Within the straps of the belt hung a war hammer. The hammer itself was also a burnt orange color, and the handle was black. In his left ear was a citrine stud and protruding from his back were a pair of wings matching the color of his hair and eyes. His eyes took in Lucy's appearance before turning towards Wapol.

Wapol exclaimed, "Woah! Where did that guy come from?!"

The man narrowed his eyes at the man, "My name is Beelzebub and I am the Prince of Gluttony, and you are by far the most disgusting man I have ever laid eyes on."

Just as he said that, Luffy came out from the castle, wrapped in Nami's coat, "Okay guys! Now the real fighting can start," he smiled.

"B-B-Beelzebub," Lucy said, looking at the huge man in wonder, he was easily the same size as Laxus if not bigger, but she had to say he was nothing like she imagined the Prince of Gluttony would be, after all, she figured that the Prince of Gluttony would be, you know, gluttonous.

"That is me, now I know your friends can handle these pests, so can we please go somewhere private in order to discuss our contract," Beelzebub looked down at Lucy, taking his eyes away from Wapol.

"Yes, of course," Lucy said, nodding before turning to Chopper, Luffy, and Sanji, "Guys! I'm sorry, but I really must go to work out some things with Beelzebub, I know you guys can handle them, but if you need me, shout and I'll be there in a second, I promise!"

"Don't worry about it Lucy, you got something you gotta do with your spirit, I know they're important to you, so go on, it's not as if these guys will be that tough to beat," Luffy said, grinning at her.

"Thank you!" she yelled, before heading back into the castle to find a room to talk to Beelzebub in.

When they were both in the room, they took a few moments to silently evaluate the other, and the silence stretched on as Beelzebub continued to just watch Lucy.

"Ahem, um, I'm a bit surprised that you came out, first Asmodeus, and now you, it seems to be happening so fast, I thought it would take longer," Lucy said somewhat awkwardly.

"It usually does," he said, examining her further. It was surprising to him as well, how fast they were feeling the pull to come out. Even the others were already feeling the pull to come out, but they had to wait for the right moment, the appropriate moment.

"You know that you may tell your friends who we are," he said, breaking the silence that had once again enveloped them.

"Huh?" Lucy asked.

"You can tell your friends about us," he repeated.

"But I thought it was against celestial law to reveal anything regarding your keys," she said.

"It is, unless we give you permission," he said.

"Oh, and I take it you're giving me permission now?" Lucy said.

"Yes, you've proven yourself to us on that front, of course there are things that you can't tell, however you don't know the things you aren't allowed to tell, therefore you can't tell what you don't know," he said.

"I see..." Lucy said. So everything she knows about them so far, she can tell to her friends, but some of the things she may or may not find out about them in the future are things she can't tell her friends.

"Yes, we have many secrets that have been kept for centuries, as we are some of the most powerful celestial spirits, we have abilities you don't yet know, and the secret of our tests is one of the secrets you have yet to learn that you cannot tell to anyone," he explained.

"I understand, I will only tell them what you have given me permission to tell them," Lucy said, smiling at him, "And speaking of abilities what are yours?"

He smiled, "I can see you are telling the truth. As for my abilities, in physical combat, I use my hammer, and my magical element is air."

"I have a question, and you don't have to answer me, but you hated Wapol, did you hate him, because he's a glutton, not only for food, but for power?" Lucy asked hesitantly.

Beelzebub smiled again and said, "I'm afraid, that is something I cannot tell you until a later time, however I will leave you with this, remember what Asmodeus told you."

'Remember what Asmodeus told me? Perhaps... about the virtue?' Lucy thought about it. She was brought out of her thoughts by Beelzebub.

"Other than that, what you should know about me is that I, like Asmodeus, am very possessive, you are mine, and I am yours. After all, I'm the Prince of Glutton, and I'm a glutton for you, I want your attention, and I want your loyalty, and in turn, I will give you my attention and my loyalty. That is all I ask of you, for now at least," he said seriously, his eyes never leaving her.

"Yes, I understand. I figured that all of you would be, in a way, an embodiment of your sin. From what I see from Asmodeus, he definitely is, and you just called yourself a glutton, perhaps not for food, but for other things. I promise to give you my attention and my loyalty and to protect you," Lucy said, determination in her eyes. Her words caused him to smirk.

"I look forward to working with you my Goddess, it seems like my time with you will be interesting at the very least," he said, before pulling her close, and like Asmodeus, kissing her on the forehead and looking her deep in the eyes. This time, however, she noticed how his eyes were glowing.

He smirked at her before disappearing, knowing she was beginning to figure it out.

~.~.~

Lucy went back outside the castle to see the fight fully underway, and walked over to where the doctor, Chopper, and the unconscious Sanji were sitting.

"What happened to Sanji? Did he take out the other two?" she asked when she saw Wapol's two men lying passed out several feet away.

"I knocked him out," the doctor said, smiling, "Because I wanted Chopper to take out the two goons."

"Hmm.. Makes sense, good job, Chopper, you did well," Lucy said, smiling at the small reindeer.

"You think that's gonna make me happy, you stupid lady?" Chopper asked, smiling and blushing.

"Well, that's what I was hoping," Lucy smiled at him. Chopper looked surprised and then just continued blushing.

The three of them then watched as they watched Luffy take down Wapol. This was the first time that Lucy really had the opportunity to see Luffy fight, and she could see why he had the respect of his crew. He was a strong fighter, with even stronger morals and loyalty, she wouldn't mind remaining with him on their journey through this world.

And then, finally, the battle was over, and Drum Island was officially saved from Wapol's tyrannical rule. Dalton and the other villagers came up the mountain using the pulley system and saw the damage that had been done thanks to the pirates, and they were grateful to them for saving them from having to go back to how things were before.

Now, it was a couple days later, and Nami was ready to leave, Sanji and Luffy had finished healing, and Luffy was trying to convince Chopper to join the crew, although it seemed it was to no avail, until Gajeel decided maybe he could say something.

Gajeel and Lily both approached Chopper, who looked like he was about to run, when Lily said, "Hey, don't go, we just want to talk."

Chopper looked surprised at the other talking animal, feeling a small amount of comfort from the fact that there was someone else like him.

"You know, we're monsters too," Gajeel said, and then he covered his body with iron, not exactly something similar to Chopper, but he rmembered when Metallicana had first disappeared and people would treat him differently because of what he was.

Lily, too, transformed, turning into his battle mode, something that, while he wasn't necessarily put down for, Chopper would relate to.

"There's nothing wrong with being a monster, with being different, you know," Lily said, "People may judge you and treat you differently, but when you find someone that treats you the same as them, or maybe even treats you better, that's when you know that you've found where you belong."

"I don't really know much about your past or what's happened to you, and this isn't really like me, but hey, I can tell that you want to, I can smell the excitement and the adventure all over you, so stop hesitating, and just come, it's not that difficult," Gajeel said, then he and Lily turned and walked away, leaving the reindeer to his thoughts.

"Hurry guys! We have to go!" Nami said, running out of the castle with a coat.

"What?! Why?! I'm still trying to convince Chopper to come with us," Luffy whined.

And then, Chopper was running out of the castle crying as he made his way towards the sleigh, telling everyone to get on before making his way down the hill, continuing to cry. He was hurt by what the Kureha had said to him, but he couldn't stay here, he wanted to go out and to explore the sea, and he was, for once, going to do what he wanted.

Lucy smiled while looking up at the castle, she knew why Kureha had done what she did. She didn't want him to have any regrets.

When they reached the bottom of the mountain, they looked up to see pink. It looked like cherry blossoms were falling over the mountains, and Chopper's tears continued to fall, because he knew that was all that Dr. Hiluluk had wanted, and his dream was finally fulfilled.

He then continued to pull the sleigh all the way to the ship, and from there, the ship set sail.

~.~.~

"So, you're a doctor?" Wendy asked the reindeer at lunch the next day.

"Um, yes, I am," Chopper said to the little girl.

"Oh good! Do you think you could teach me some things about the medicine and diseases in this world? I have some healing abilities, but I'm afraid I can't do much without any knowledge about the medicine here," Wendy smiled at him.

"This world?" Chopper asked, slightly confused.

"Oh, right, we never told you about them, did we?" Nami said, more a statement than a question. They then all introduced themselves to Chopper and explained how they had come to be there. Chopper had so many questions and was excited that his adventures were already starting.

When lunch was over, Virgo popped out from the spirit world. Her emotionless face disappeared as she bowed at Lucy, saying, "I will clean up the dinner plates and kitchen for you Princess. I have also brought you a change of clothes from the spirit world, and some soap and Strawberry and Vanilla shampoos and conditioner. Punishment time?" The girl's eyes sparkled at the mention of punishment, and Chopper looked terrified at the thought of Lucy punishing the girl.

"Thank you Virgo. That's so nice of you! You really didn't have to do this for me. And again no, no punishment." The pinkette deflated slightly when Lucy told her she would not be receiving punishment, but proceeded to give Lucy the items, and then started gathering up dishes and walking over to the kitchen area. Chopper relaxed slightly that Lucy was not going to punish her but he wondered why she would ask for punishment.

Sanji stood up dramatically, saying, "No, my beautiful Virgo, I can't ask you to do chores that rightfully belong to me."

Virgo looked over her shoulder with a glare, "I am not doing this for you, I am doing the for Princess. Now let me do my work." Sanji recoiled slightly then approached Lucy.

"Why won't she let me help?" Sanji asked.

Lucy laughed lightly, already on her feet and on her way to the bathing area. "When Virgo wants to do something, just let her do it. She won't stop until the work is done, so might as well not fight it." With that she walked away, clothes in hand, to the bathing area to wash off and to finally get some much needed private time.

As Lucy soaked in the tub, she thought about everything that had happened in the last few days. She had already grown fond of all of the people on the ship that were so willingly helping them find their way home. Their rowdy behavior and tendency to start fights made Lucy smile at her memories of Fairy Tail. She wondered how they were doing, and if they realized that they were gone yet. There wasn't a strict timeline for how long they would be gone with the dragons, but they were supposed to check in every few days on the lacrima, and they hadn't used it since she left. She knew that, even if they didn't know now, her friends would start to worry, because of their lack of communication.

Too soon, the warm water she was resting in got cold and she was forced to leave the soothing water of the bath. She put on the outfit that Virgo brought her. and smiled slightly at the meddling and darkly humorous spirit, before muttering, "Damn interfering spirit. Always trying to put me into awkward situations."

The outfit started with a midnight blue, loose fitting dress, with intricate golden threads spiraling through it. The dress cut off on her hip on her right side, while cascading downwards on her left. The top center looked to be cut about halfway down her chest in the precise spot her cleavage was. Her shoulders and neck were bare, her sleeves starting at her upper arm and hanging loosely to her wrists. All of the edges of the dress had a torn effect, from the hem to the bust line, to the ends of the sleeves. Over the loose shirt there was a black corset that stringed together at the front, showcasing her small waist and wide hips perfectly. Her legs were covered with expertly torn fishnet stockings that went up to her midthigh, leaving the uppermost part of her thigh bare until it reached the bits of torn material poking out from under the corset. She wore knee high, high heeled, black boots that folded over at the tops. On her hips, just below the corset, was a black belt with a golden buckle. She had attached her keys and whip to the belt. Finally, her hair was falling down her back in her natural waves, with her hair tied in a bandana of the same material and design as her dress. She looked like a sexy pirate. 'If Bickslow saw this, I would never lose my Cosplayer nickname,' she thought ruefully.

After looking at herself in the mirror again, she smiled slightly at the meddling and darkly humorous spirit, and then, realizing she would have to walk out onto the deck in this, began muttering, "Virgo must really want her punishment today..."

The Dragon Slayers heard her muttering, and Gajeel let out a laugh, "Gihi, Bunny Girl's got something good on if she's reacting like that." Sting let out a cocky grin, nodding his head in agreement. Laxus just chuckled and smirked, facing towards the door, waiting for the girl to exit the room. Even Rogue sat a little taller, facing towards the direction of the bathroom.

As she left the bathroom, everyone on the boat eyed her, with the exception of Virgo who was still cleaning, but feeling her master's reaction, was smirking slightly. Lucy, ignoring the looks on the men's faces, other than Luffy's of course, who was too oblivious to realize what he was seeing, and stomped up to her spirit, who had turned around, her face back into expressionlessness. "Punishment Princess? Do you like the outfit I brought you? It will automatically repel water, so if you were to fall into the ocean, when you got out, your clothes will be dry." Lucy sighed at her maid, "No punishment Virgo, and I appreciate the gift, despite the fact that you're obviously trying to play games with me."

The pinkette held mirth in her eyes as her voice monotonously replied, "I don't know what you are talking about Princess, but as I am finished cleaning, I will return to the Spirit world now. Goodbye." With that, the girl disappeared.

Lucy sighed as her maid spirit left for home, preparing herself to face the reactions of the men on the ship. As she turned around, she saw four of the Dragon Slayers smirking at her, obviously letting their eyes run from top to bottom. Rogue was looking into her eyes, a light blush on his cheeks. Luffy and Natsu weren't really paying attention as he was begging Sanji to make him more food. Sanji was staring open mouthed at her, hearts in his eyes, as he ignored their cries. Zoro's eyes were wider than normal, and he visibly gulped as he took in her appearance. Nami, Wendy, and Vivi were blushing as they faced each other to resume their previous conversation, attempting to make things less awkward. Chopper was looking away and blushing red.

Lucy, having gained some control, placed her hands on her hips, and looked at the boys who were openly ogling her, one eyebrow raised. When they didn't stop staring, most likely out of drunkenness, or in Sanji's case, pure idiocy, Lucy really started getting annoyed, and that was when there was a flash of purple.

Suddenly, there were two arms wrapped around her waist and there was someone standing in front of her. When she looked up, she was looking into the purple eyes of Asmodeus.

"Sorry, Goddess, but I'd prefer if I was the only one looking at you like that," he said, moving further to wrap his wings around her as well.

"Hey... Luce, isn't that the guy that showed up on the island with the giants? Is he one of Yukino's spirits?" Natsu asked, cocking his head to the side.

"No, I don't recognize him... Maybe he's what Yukino was protecting in the box," Rogue said, eyeing the spirit.

"Yes, Rogue, you're correct," Lucy said, facing him. She had managed to get Asmodeus to let her go, or at least move around so that he was wrapping his arms around her from behind her instead, eyeing the men on the ship.

"This is Asmodeus, he's one of the Seven Princes of Hell, the rarest and some of the most powerful celestial spirits, they are who Yukino died to protect," Lucy said, strength in her voice, although her heart hurt thinking about her friend's death, causing Asmodeus to wrap his arms just a little tighter.

"I can't tell you much, and I don't know much to begin with, but what I can tell you, is that there are 7, and I am currently contracted to 2, they each have an element that they can use, and they choose their wizard, not the other way around," Lucy said.

"So they chose you?" Cobra said, his eye going from the spirit to her.

"Yes, we did. Why we chose her is a secret that not even she knows yet, but it was our choice," Asmodeus said, his deep voice surprising some of them.

"Which of the seven deadly sins do you represent," Laxus asked him.

"I am the Prince of Lust," Asmodeus said. No one was surprised about it, it made sense, considering the two times he had popped up and the way he was acting around Lucy.

"You said that you were contracted with two, who's the other one? Is it the guy that showed up during the fight with Wapol?" Chopper asked her.

"Yes, that's Beelzebub, and he's the Prince of Gluttony," Lucy said.

"How powerful are these spirits," Sting said, a light shining in his eyes.

"More powerful than even she knows, and no we won't fight you, sit down boy," Asmodeus said, shooting a glare towards him.

"So what elements are you guys?" Nami asked.

"I am darkness and Beelzebub is air," he explained.

"So why'd you come out?" Zoro asked, taking another swig of alcohol.

"Because I didn't like the way you were looking at my Goddess," Asmodeus said, glaring at them, before smiling down at Lucy. "You will find that all of the Seven Princes are very protective and very territorial. Anyways, Goddess, I can see that you're fine now, so I'll tell you goodbye, but you'll be seeing me again, I promise you that."

He gave her a kiss on the neck, throwing one final glare at the men on the boat, and then disappeared in a flash of purple smoke.

~.~.~

"Woah guys! What's that?" Usopp asked, pointing to the smoke in front of them. Usopp and Luffy were currently holding Carue over the ocean as fishing bait, much to Vivi's disdain, since they had eaten all the food that was on the ship, much to Sanji's disdain.

Nami then explained about underwater volcanoes and that they would be fine as they crossed through the smoke, only to come out on the other side with an extra passenger, who was holding onto Carue hanging over the sea, well until he fell in.

"Who the hell are you?" Gajeel asked in his usual gruff manner, after someone had gotten him out of the water and onto the ship.

"Oohh, scary, and I am Bon Clay, it's nice to meet you," he said flamboyantly. "Thank you so much for saving me, in return, I'll show you my ability."

He then began to show how he could copy people's faces by touching them and then touching himself on the cheek. Lucy and the others from Earthland weren't particularly impressed, so Bon Clay went over to touch them, but couldn't get close enough with the growling coming from the boys.

He went over towards Lucy, when she put her hand up, "No thank you, I've seen a similar ability and I'm not all that impressed. So please, don't touch me."

Bon Clay put his head down before going back towards the people that were impressed by him and showing them more faces. When Bon Clay's ship arrived, he looked heartbroken, along with Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper, but the others were relieved that the new source of noise was leaving.

When he was gone, Cobra said, "Damn that guy was annoying, also he seemed to know something about the country we're bringing Vivi to, Alabasta. I'm not sure what though."

"H-H-He's Mr. 2," Vivi said, fear in her eyes. "I had heard about him and some of his abilities, but I didn't realize who exactly he was until I saw my father's face when he was changing his face around."

"Mr. 2? What the hell kind of name is Mr. 2?" Laxus asked, annoyed.

"Did we not tell you why we're going to Alabasta and why we have to get there so quickly?" Nami asked.

"We know bits and pieces but not much," Lucy said.

"I'm gonna kick Crocodile's ass!" Luffy said excitedly.

"I'm always down for ass kicking! LET'S GO I'M ALL FIRED UP!" Natsu said, lighting himself on fire in excitement.

"Natsu calm down!" Lucy yelled at him.

"Sorry," he said, immediately extinguishing his flames.

Nami and the others then explained the situation in Alabasta and what their goal was, what they needed to do.

"His name is Crocodile. He is one of the 7 Warlords of the Sea, the pirates given leniency by the world government, they're job is to take out other pirates. However, he isn't really on the World Government's side, he's the leader of a group called Baroque Works, and they're all bounty hunters that capture and kill pirates for the bounties on their heads. Crocodile is trying to take over Alabasta, causing issues between the people of Alabasta with the King, causing a rebel army to form and making the entire country unstable. We have to take out Crocodile and Baroque Works to save Vivi's country," Nami said, determination in her voice.

By the end, all the Earthlanders were ready to fight, mostly because they wanted to help Vivi, and for Cobra because it had been so long since he had gotten to fight, and maybe just a little bit in order to help Vivi.

"Vivi, I had no idea you were a princess," Lucy said, looking at the blue haired girl.

"Yes, I am, but I left and went under cover in Baroque Works to figure out what was really happening in my country," Vivi said. "I just need to get back to Alabasta to talk to the leader of the rebel army and tell him what's actually happening. Crocodile is considered a hero to my people, because he protects them from invading pirates. He's set up the perfect situation for take over, he's the hero, many have lost trust in my father, and there is unrest amongst the people."

"Unstable leadership leaves the organization susceptible to take over, I know how it works," Lucy said. 'In a way, a country works just like a company.' Lucy was thinking about her father and how her leaving him left the leader of the family company unstable, making it easy for someone to come in and take it away from her father. In his case, she thought he deserved it, but this country, Alabasta, and Vivi and her father, didn't deserve this. They were not at fault.

"Well, at the very least you have us behind you, Vivi, we will help you to take down Crocodile and Baroque Works and to help you spread the truth to your people," Lucy smiled. The dragon slayers behind her nodded their heads in agreement.

"Wait, we have to figure out some way to make sure we are who we say we are," Zoro said. "That guy a lot of our faces, and if he copies us, we may not know the difference."

"That's true, we need to make sure you all know who is who. For the dragon slayers it won't make a difference, he only copies your appearance, but his smell remains distinctly his," all the dragon slayers' noses scrunched up and they all heard Cobra mutter, "unfortunately."

"I think I have an idea," Zoro said.

When they had finished preparing, they all put their hands in the center, bandages around their forearms.

"Okay, so I was right. I'm all fired up! It's time to beat Crocodile and take out Baroque Works!" Natsu said, hitting his hand with his fist, bandage wrapped around his arm as his body lit on fire.


	3. Friends and Foes

Chapter 3: Friends and Foes

"We've finally reached Alabasta!" Luffy screamed, "I gotta go find some food!"

With that Luffy took off running, followed by Natsu and Happy, in order to find some food to fill their stomachs.

"Those idiots! Why did they just go off running?!" Nami yelled after the two boys.

"Don't worry about it, they'll be fine. They can both take care of themselves," Lucy smiled.

"Well, we know Luffy can, but he has a tendency to attract trouble. I don't know how good of a fighter Natsu is, though, we haven't gotten to see it yet," Zoro said.

"Natsu can definitely hold his own, but he definitely has a tendency to attract trouble too," Laxus shook his head.

"I think the two of them together might actually be the worst pair I've ever seen," Gajeel said, thinking about what kind of trouble the two could get in together.

"Let's just be happy that Sting didn't go with him," Rogue said, shaking his head.

"He did," Cobra said, leaning back against the side of the boat.

"WHAT?!" Lucy and Nami yelled at the dragon slayer.

"Light bulb and his biggest fan took off after the others while you guys were busy complaining about it," he said.

"Oh dear god," Lucy said, shaking her head, before she turned to glare at Cobra, "WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU STOP HIM?!"

Cobra just shrugged, and Lucy looked like she was about to strangle him when Vivi intervened.

"There's nothing we can do about it now, though, we have to do some shopping for food and clothes that we can walk in the desert in," Vivi said. "I'm sure they'll be fine. They'll find their way back."

"Come on, let's go," Sanji said, hopping off the boat, "We just have to hope for the best in regards to them."

They all left the ship and found a little area to hide and keep Vivi hidden from the eyes of those that would recognize her, while Chopper and Sanji went off shopping, being the only ones in their group that wouldn't be recognized if they ran into anyone from Baroque Works.

When Sanji came back, it was without Chopper, and with some questionable purchases.

"But Sanji, we can't go walking through the desert like this, we'll burn, we need to cover any open skin up with clothing," Vivi said after she put on the dancing girl outfit.

"I mean I like it, it's beautiful, but Vivi is right, we need to protect our skin," Lucy said, laughing at the tears in Sanji's eyes.

"But, my loves, you look so beautiful," Sanji continued crying.

Finally, Chopper came back to them, and when they asked where he went, he gave them a vague answer, and they then just began waiting for the return of their captain and fellow crew members, while a few members of the crew went out to try and find them, however, when they came back, they came baring bad news.

"Guys, the Marines are here, including that Smoker guy that we met back in Loguetown," Usopp said, freaking out.

"There's also some other guy that's looking for Luffy," Zoro said.

Nami looked worried, "Maybe we should try to start making our way back to the ship, Luffy will find his way back, and so will Sting and Natsu."

~.~.~

"I still can't believe we got so lost and we didn't get any food," Luffy said, whining.

"I know, all we found out about was that stupid green powder stuff, it still doesn't make sense to me," Natsu said.

"Me neither, I just want some fish," Happy said, also whining.

"We just need to get back to Nanohana, there's probably restaurants there," Sting said.

"That's Sting for you, always the smart one in the group," Lector said, smiling.

"Wait, do you guys smell that?" Luffy said, "I SMELL MEAT!"

Luffy then followed his nose to try to find the food, led by Sting and Natsu, who did in fact smell it and began leading Luffy to the bar.

The three of them ran into the room, taking three seats at the bar, not noticing that they had just thrown two people completely through the wall and through several other buildings in their excitement.

They were eating happily, and rather messily, when a huge man with white hair and smoking a cigar came out from the hole in the wall. The three of them looked at him while they continued eating, and then Luffy started freaking out.

Swallowing down the last of the food, he shouted at Natsu and Sting, "Come on guys, we gotta get out of here!"

"What why?! I want more food," Natsu yelled, before he followed Luffy out of the door.

"STRAW HAT!" the man yelled before chasing them.

"Hey Luffy, do you know that guy?" Sting asked.

"Yea, he was this Marine captain from this city we went to, he can turn into smoke so I can't punch him, so we gotta go!" Luffy yelled back.

"Marines, the Straw Hats are here! Find them and capture them!" Smoker yelled.

Tashigi led the Marines on a chase around Nanohana, chasing Luffy and his friends, who neither Tashigi or Smoker recognized, and also attempting to find the rest of the Straw Hats.

Eventually though, the Straw Hats were reunited with their missing members, however against their will it was.

"What the hell?! Why are you leading them straight to us?!" yelled Sanji.

"Oops! Hahaha, sorry," Luffy said smiling.

'Who the hell are all the others? They've more than doubled the amount in their crew,' Smoker thought.

Smoker threw an attack at Luffy, but then there was someone blocking the way.

"Fire Fist Ace, why are you interfering?" Smoker growled out.

"I told you I'm looking for someone, even you must understand defending your kid brother," Ace smirked at Smoker.

"KID BROTHER?!" everyone on the Straw Hat crew yelled.

"So Straw Hat is your kid brother? Well it doesn't matter, I'll just have to take out both of you," Smoker said.

"Go on Luffy, I'll catch up with you later," Ace turned to look at him.

"Okay!" Luffy said, turning to run with the rest of the crew.

The crew took off to the ship, and when they got there, they prepared the boat to leave, when Cobra said something, "Aren't you guys forgetting someone?"

"What are you talking about?" Sanji asked.

"Cobra! Why the hell are you always telling us this stuff AFTER it's too late?!" Lucy said, beyond annoyed with the poison dragon slayer, who just smirked in return.

'Because it's fun,' he chuckled in his head.

"GODDAMN IT LUFFY," Nami yelled, "Where the hell could he have gone?!"

~.~.~

"Um, Luffy, the whole idea was for you to leave with your crew and get to your ship, why are you still in town?" Ace asked.

"Hahahaha, I kinda got lost," Luffy said, shrugging.

"You fool, you never change do you?" Ace laughed.

"Nope, but you did, since when did you have devil fruit powers?" Luffy asked.

"For a while now, but enough about me, tell me about your crew," Ace said.

"They're amazing! I've got a swordsman that uses three swords, a liar, a navigator thief, an amazing cook, a doctor that's also a reindeer, a princess, and then eight people from another world, and five cat things also from another world! Seven of the people from the other world are called dragon slayers and they each have different elements and get this! They can EAT their elements, like Cobra eats poison and Natsu eats fire and Gajeel eats iron, isn't that so cool?! And the cats can grow wings and talk and fly. And then Lucy, she's the last person from the other world, she can make people appear out of thin air and they call her princess and they all have abilities and stuff. I haven't actually seen any of them fight yet but from what they've said they're like really strong. Well I mean I saw a little when I first met them, and like Natsu and Gajeel made these giant tornadoes out of fire and metal and they're all so cool!" Luffy said, talking so fast that he didn't breathe the entire way through.

"Another world, huh? How do you know they're not just saying that and they've just eaten devil fruits," Ace asked, skeptical of what his gullible little brother was saying.

"Because, I've seen them all use their abilities AND they can all swim! Besides you said you ate the Flame Flame fruit, and Natsu has fire powers, and there's only one of each devil fruit!" Luffy said. "Besides, when I first met them, they fell out of the sky! They said it wasn't their first time in a different world either. I think they might have been criminals in their world too, or the other world they went to or something like that. They just said they always ended up with the government hating them."

"I see," Ace laughed. Well, he supposed stranger things were possible, he'd like to see them use their abilities and then swim for himself though, and this summoning people with different abilities didn't sound real to him.

"Yea, they're all soooo cool and tough," Luffy said. When the Baroque Works' workers came out to attempt to beat them up and take them in, Ace and Luffy made quick work of them before continuing on their way. Luffy saw his ship and then quickly hopped onto the boat the hard way, by stretching himself out and jumping onto the boat and colliding with members of his crew.

"Hehe, sorry guys," Luffy laughed. He then started to explain about his brother, and he was just saying that he could probably beat him now, when said brother showed up and kicked him in the back of the head.

"Who's beating up who, Luffy?" Ace smirked. He made some small conversation with the Straw Hats when they were again attacked by Baroque Works agents, Ace taking care of the multiple ships easily before returning to the crew.

"Wow, you're so strong!" Nami exclaimed.

"The older brother of a monster is an even bigger monster," Usopp said, somewhat terrified.

"Hey, so are you actually made of fire?" Natsu asked, stars in his eyes.

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" Lucy said, hitting him over the head.

"BUT LUUUCEE," Natsu whined.

"But nothing, you are not going to try to eat him!" Lucy said, narrowing her eyes.

"Eat me?" Ace said, raising an eyebrow.

"Remember I told you, they eat their elements, so Natsu eats fire! And if you're made of fire, that means he wants to eat you!" Luffy said, laughing.

"Ah... Please don't eat me," Ace said, smiling.

"Don't worry, I won't let him," Lucy said smiling, "My name is Lucy Heartfilia, it's a pleasure to meet you."

The crew then went around introducing themselves.

"So, Luffy said that you guys are from another world, excuse me if I'm a bit skeptical, but how do I know your abilities aren't just devil fruit powers? And making other people appear out of thin air, that just doesn't seem possible," Ace said.

"It's completely understandable, but we can show you if you'd like," Wendy said, smiling up at the older boy. "Hmmm, what should I do? I know."

Wendy walked over to the back of the ship and called out, "Sky Dragon's Roar!" and then a whirlwind of air escaped from her mouth, propelling them forwards slightly as she finished. Then, she jumped into the sea water swimming around the ship a bit before climbing back up.

"Wow, I guess you were right, they can't be devil fruit powers if you can swim, I'm sorry for doubting you, and that's a pretty strong attack you got there for someone so small," Ace said, smiling down at the little girl.

"Wendy! You can't just go swimming out here," Nami scolded, wrapping a towel around the girl, "There's all kinds of Sea Kings and the water is cold, please be more careful."

"The girl is right, Wendy, you must be more careful, you don't know what could be lurking in those waters," Carla scolded as well.

"But if any of the guys tried to show their powers they probably would have destroyed the ship, it was the easiest thing to do," Wendy said.

"Kid's right, any of us would have ended up completely wrecking the ship if we tried showing our abilities, especially the flame brain or metal head," Cobra said.

"Hey!" Gajeel called out growling, and Ace for the first time noticed the fangs sticking out, "And you, that's a basic Dragon Slayer technique, we all have our roars for each of our elements. That's not even her strongest attack, never underestimate a dragon slayer, we can all give a beating when we want to."

Ace apologized, but he hadn't realized what he'd said would be offensive.

"Don't mind Gajeel, him and some of the others see Wendy as their little sister, or pupil, they're trying to help teach her some new attacks. Most of them have at least similar attacks, but they also all have their own unique ones," Lucy said, smiling at him, "Anyways, that's a dragon slayer ability, and now you can see mine, although I won't jump in the ocean. I doubt there's any devil fruits like this, so hopefully you just believe me from seeing it. Open, Gate of the Lion, Leo!"

A man with orange hair, wearing a suit and sunglasses appeared out of thin air right before Ace's eyes. It was no trick of the light or illusion, it was definitely real.

"My beloved princess, it's been so long since you have called me to your side, I have missed you so much," the man said, falling to one knee and taking Lucy's hand in his.

"Loke, calm down, it's only been a few days, it's not that big of a deal," Lucy said, rolling her eyes. "Anyways, it was about time for you to meet the crew anyways. Guys, this is Loke, he's the leader of the Zodiac spirits and a dear friend of mine."

Loke addressed the crew, "Thank you for taking care of my Princess, she saved my life, and I am forever indebted to her, and in turn you, for helping her. Whatever you need, I'm here to help."

"You can really summon people out of thin air," Ace said, looking at her incredulously.

"Yup," Lucy said, nodding and smiling, "Okay, Loke, you can go back now if you want."

"Goodbye, Princess, I'll see you again soon," he said, disappearing.

"You guys... are incredible, you're going to completely change everything that everyone thought they knew here," Ace said, thinking about how the Marines would react. "It's probably a good thing that you decided to become pirates. The Marines would either send you off to be studied and tested so they could use your abilities for themselves or they would use you as their dogs, their weapons."

"Yes, it's alright, I suppose we always kinda end up on the bad side of the government anyways, even if we are working with them," Lucy laughed, along with the rest of the Fairy Tail mages, although Ace noticed that Rogue and Sting looked just as confused as he did, and Cobra was simply sitting their expressionless.

'I guess I'll just ask them later,' he thought.

~.~.~

The next day, they had dropped anchor and gotten their things together and ready for the trip. Lucy had Virgo store any needed supplies in the Spirit World, making it much easier for them to travel quickly.

They hit a bit of a speed bump when Luffy had taken a group of animals under his wing in a way, but luckily Chopper was able to convince them to stay where they were.

They were walking when Laxus spoke up, "Hey, Blondie, have you thought about how valuable Aquarius could be here?"

"Hmmm... I'd forgotten Lucy had her as a spirit, but here, she definitely would be an amazing spirit to have," Rogue said, turning towards the blonde.

"Yes, I know she'd be excellent against any devil fruit users and just to help us on the ship, but still, I also have to take into account her destruction," Lucy said, sighing.

"Who's Aquarius?" asked Chopper.

"She's Lucy's scariest spirit, she's a giant fish and she's always angry and yelling and she always attacks everyone and flushes them like a toilet," Happy said, cowering in fear.

"Happy, that's a terrible description of Aquarius, I'd say that it's more like a whirlpool than a toilet," Natsu said.

"Both of you are idiots! Aquarius is a MERMAID not a giant fish, Pisces are the ones that have fish forms!" Lucy yelled, "The reason that she'd be beneficial here is that she has complete control over water, she can do whatever she wants with it. However, she often finds a way to get me, and my friends, caught up in her attacks, plus she's always teasing me about not having a boyfriend. While it's true she could help us with the ship and she could help with devil fruit users, she'd also probably end up hurting Luffy and Chopper in the process as well if they're around."

"I see, all of your spirits have really interesting personalities, don't they," Vivi said, laughing slightly.

"Yea, Aquarius's boyfriend, Scorpio, would actually be pretty beneficial here. He uses sand as a weapon, I'll probably call him out if I need to fight anyone," Lucy said, thinking about which spirits would work best in the desert.

"I have a question for you guys, you've said a couple of times that you've ended up on the wrong side of the law, even if you're working with them, what does that mean?" Zoro asked.

"Well, we mainly are talking about those of us that are part of Fairy Tail, which is our guild. Gajeel, Wendy, Natsue, Laxus, and I are all from Fairy Tail, along with their exceeds. Sting and Rogue are part of a guild called Sabertooth, and Cobra... well he's a bit different, he was a member of the Oracion Seis, but he's an actual criminal, even in our world," Lucy said. "Actually, Fairy Tail are the ones that caught him and handed him over to the government."

"What?! You guys are enemies?!" Usopp yelled.

"Yes and no, in a way, most of us have kind of been against each other at some point," Laxus said.

"What? But you guys are part of the same guild?" Nami asked.

"Yes, but it wasn't always that way," Gajeel said.

"How about we explain a little about our pasts? To begin things, I feel like I should tell you guys about the guild system in Earthland and how it works," Lucy said, explaining how guilds worked and how the Magic Council worked.

"So your Magic Council is kind of like your World Government, the Rune Knights are your Marines, and the guilds are like the Seven Warlords?" Ace asked, trying to understand the system.

"No, I'd say the guilds are more like bounty hunters than the Warlords, most of the time, legal guilds aren't criminals," Rogue said. Lucy went on to explain the guild system.

"So Cobra was in a 'dark guild' and you guys are all part of legal guilds?" Vivi asked.

"Yes, now onto why the government in our world isn't fond of us: we always destroy everything," Lucy said.

"What?" Usopp said.

"One time, we fought this giant flute names Lullaby and destroyed an entire town!" Natsu said, smiling.

"I used to be part of a guild called Phantom Lord, and we kinda had a war with Fairy Tail, which broke the rules of legal guilds, however, Phantom Lord was shut down, because it was our fault, since we started the fight," Gajeel said, looking guilty.

"Then during the Tower of Heaven incident, the Magic Council almost killed all of us with a beam of pure magical energy," Lucy said, sighing.

"There was an incident where I kinda almost destroyed the entire city we lived in when I tried to take over Fairy Tail," Laxus said, also looking guilty.

"After that, the Magic Council asked a bunch of guilds to work together to take down Oracion Seis, and that's when we fought Cobra and the rest of his guild, we destroyed like an entire mountain during that, and that's how I ended up joining Fairy Tail," Wendy laughed.

"That's when we got sent to another world called Edolas that had weird doubles of us, and the government was trying to kill all of us to steal our magic and so we had to defeat them so our friend Mystogan could take his rightful place on the throne, because he was actually the Prince of Edolas," Happy said.

"Then, we came back and we fought Acnologia, the dragon of destruction and almost died, but the ghost of Fairy Tail's first master saved us by putting a protective barrier around there, but we were trapped in time there for 7 years," Lily said.

"When they came back, they participated in the Grand Magic Games against our guild, and, well a former member of our guild almost killed Lucy on national television," Sting said, also looking guilty.

"And then dragons attacked the capital of our country, and we destroyed the entire city while in the process of trying to help it," Natsu shrugged.

"Yeah, Lahar has been trying to shut us down for ages," Gajeel laughed letting out his signature, "Gihi."

"But, we do too much good for the Magic Council to go with it, so we usually just get a lot of punishment, like fines, and damage repair costs and other stuff. Once they made Erza and Natsu spend a night in jail," Lucy said, also grinning.

"So, anyways, being on the opposite side of the government isn't really news to us, at least the Fairy Tail members and Cobra. Cobra's a bit different now, though; he doesn't want to completely destroy the world anymore, but still, it isn't anything new. Besides if your government is like you guys say it is, then we probably would have ended up against them anyways," Laxus said.

"Why?" Zoro asked. "You guys seem to like and be good at taking out bad guys, so why would you willingly go against the government?"

"Because we aren't lab rats, none of us would be cool with that, especially not Lucy, she wouldn't let anyone touch her spirits, they're mistreated too much in our world by their key holders. Other than that, there's the fact that none of us really like being told what to do, Fairy Tail or not," Cobra smirked. "The fact of the matter is, we do what we want in the way that want, which is the way each of us work. We may be from different guilds, hell, I'm a criminal, and half of these guys have fought each other more than they've fought together, and yet here we are."

"Don't tell me you've gone soft on us Cobra, you're calling us 'we' now?" Lucy smiled at him.

"I guess I am Blondie, there's not much else I can do anyways, besides it's not like anything I've said wasn't true. None of us really work well together, when Natsu and Gajeel teamed up to take out Rogue and Sting, they ended up beating up each other just as much as they beat up the other two," Cobra said. "The twins are the only two that actually work together, other than that, we each watch out for ourselves."

"I guess that's the way we work too, real teamwork, doing the best that we can on our own to support all of us together, each motivated by our own hopes," Zoro said, thinking about their crew, each with different goals and aspirations.

"You guys sure are interesting, and I can't wait to see how you guys affect the Marines, you're gonna confuse the hell out of them. Do me a favor and don't straight up tell them what's going on with you guys, it'll be fun to see them scramble and try to figure it out," Ace said, laughing.

"Yea sure, doesn't matter to me," Natsu said, grinning.

Their journey continued for a couple of days, with a couple of hiccups in between. Eventually, Ace turned back around the way they came, after having investigated the reports of Blackbeard in the area and finding them false. He had to continue his search and so he bid the Straw Hats goodbye, knowing that he would see them again, in some way or another.

Vivi had explained to them the story behind the rebellion in Alabasta and how Crocodile had created the civil unrest. She explained her relationship with the leader of the rebel army and how Alabasta had ended up where it was. Lucy felt for Vivi, she understood how she felt in a way, and she promised their unwavering support.

When they reached the town they were heading to, they found out that the leader of the rebel army was no longer there, so they were left with a choice, whether to go back the way they came and go to the leader of the rebel army or whether to make their way directly to Crocodile.

After Luffy challenged Vivi, forcing her to face the reality of the situation, she realized that the only way they would truly be able to stop anything would be to go straight to Crocodile, so that's where they went.

~.~.~

When they reached Rainbase, they came face to face with the millions and billions of Baroque Works, and they had to split up, agreeing to meet up outside of Rain Dinners before taking on Crocodile. Unfortunately, in addition to the Baroque Works agents, there were also the Marines in town chasing them.

When the Straw Hats stormed Rain Dinners, they were missing Chopper, Vivi, and Sanji, and they had the addition of Smoker.

When they fell through the floor into the cage, none of them were particularly happy.

'Well this isn't good,' thought Gajeel as the group fell down the metal shaft. Gajeel, Laxus, Natsu, Wendy, Lucy, Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Cobra, Sting, Rogue, Vivi and some guy named Smoker all fell through the trap door in the "VIP room".

Cobra laughed, "Way to state the obvious metal head." Gajeel growled back at the mind reader as Smoker's brows furrowed. 'I don't remember him saying anything… Who are these guys anyways?'

When they were all safely on the ground, more or less, Smoker, for the first time, got a good look at the newest members of the Straw Hat Pirates. They were all fairy bizarre looking, if not by their hair color than by their other features, large lightning scars and over a dozen piercings aren't exactly a social norm. The only one who looked normal was the blonde girl, but she was far from ordinary. 'With those curves…' Smoker thought, before his mind was pulled out of its reverie by Luffy falling to the ground. 'What did I miss?'

While Smoker was inspecting the unknowns in the room, a different conversation was occurring among the pirates. "Is this metal?" Gajeel asked as he eyed the cage. Luffy, having pressed himself against it, immediately felt weakened falling to the ground.

"That's sea prism stone, it's said to be the very essence of the sea, meaning it can harm and weaken Devil Fruit users," said Smoker.

Gajeel, who was as he always is, impatient, snapped at him, "Yea, but does it count as metal?"

Smoker's jaw dropped as he contemplated. 'It's called a stone, but I'd relate it more to the metal family, but why is it important to him?'

"Why?" Smoker grit out from behind his cigars.

Gajeel, growling, was about to push him against the wall when Cobra said, "It's considered metal. Eat to your heart's content."

Gajeel grinned toothily, letting out a "Gihi" as he latched his mouth onto the weird metal. Between bites he said, "This is some weird tasting stuff," and then returned his mouth to the task of freeing the trapped members.

A new voice broke through the laughter of the Earthland mages and the confusion of the natives. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Gajeel looked up at the man he assumed was Crocodile, or Mr. Zero, "What the hell does it look like I'm doing? I'm eating. Did you really think you could trap an Iron Dragon Slayer in a cage of metal?" the man covered in piercings responded, ending with his signature smirk and laugh.

A new woman appeared, with black hair, holding Vivi. Vivi's eyes widened as she saw her friends trapped in the cage.

"Luffy, guys! Are you all right?!" she yelled at them.

"Don't worry! We'll be fine," Lucy said, turning her attention to Crocodile. Right now would be the perfect time to get some information from Crocodile, so she said softly under her breath, "Wait, guys, don't escape just yet. We can find out some stuff about his plans and his true goals. Something doesn't sit right with me."

The dragon slayers all heard her and stopped any plans of breaking free.

Lucy listened to the conversation between Vivi and Crocodile, listening to Crocodile's goals of taking over all of Alabasta, and, while she was disgusted with his greed, there was something that didn't fit. There had to be something more he was after, something they weren't seeing. She just couldn't figure out what.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a flash of teal as a man appeared. He had teal hair that reached to about his shoulders, with matching teal eyes. He had olive colored skin and wore nothing except for black leather pants and gloves. His eyes were narrowed, inspecting his surroundings. Strapped to his back was a black and teal leather quiver; the arrows inside were black, with teal feathers on the ends. He held in his hand a brilliant black bow, decorated with obsidian gems. In his left ear was a blue-green topaz stud. He turned his eyes towards Lucy, saying, "Hello Goddess, my name is Mammon, and I am the Prince of Greed. I can see now isn't the best time to work out a contract, so do not worry about that for now."

Crocodile stared on in complete surprise, knowing that the man had come from nowhere, and he wondered how she could possibly be doing it.

'It can't be a Devil Fruit, because the sea prism stone isn't affecting her. It must be some sort of sorcery' Crocodile thought as he looked towards the cage.

"Yes, actually, it is sorcery, of sorts," said Cobra to Crocodile. "And don't try to send your cute little pets in here Crocodile. As if those overgrown lizards could hold a candle to a dragon. And in answer to your question, I hear everything." He was smirking now, looking at Crocodile whose eyes opened even wider.

Natsu started laughing with a stupid grin on his face, "I'm all fired up now," he said as flames encased his body, increasing the temperature in the room by several degrees.

"I'm done waiting, Blondie did you get what you needed?" said Laxus asked.

Lucy was still looking at the man, but she turned her attention to Laxus, saying, "Yes and no, but I can tell I won't get anything else, so go ahead."

Suddenly lightning filled the cage, travelling through the sea prism stone, and when it touched the ground outside the cage, Laxus appeared from the lightning, a cocky grin firmly on his face.

"As much as I hate to admit, Sparky's right," said Sting, with his own smirk planted on his face. Suddenly light encased the cage, and the next second it, too, was out of the cage, along with him.

Rogue, however, kept his stoic expression, saying, "I suppose I should follow my idiotic light bulb of a partner." With that, his body entered into the shadows and reappeared outside of them next to the two blondes.

"I want to help too," said Wendy, she knew she could take out the cage if she just put enough magic behind it, "Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!" the girl yelled as she formed two air whips in her hand, smashing them down against the cage and destroying it.

The rest of the Straw Hats stepped out from the rubble, determination on their faces as they looked at Crocodile.

Crocodile knew it was time for him to go, he had a timeline to keep, so he called out, "Miss All Sunday, get me out of here, and flood the room."

Then he and the woman left as water started filling the room, threatening to drown them.

"Don't worry Celestial Goddess, I'll take care of it," the teal haired man who had appeared earlier said. The Straw Hats didn't have time to think about what he said before they were all swimming to the surface of the water.

When the man came up, he was holding onto Smoker, and the Straw Hats all stared in horror as they watched the Marine regain consciousness.

"Thank you for saving him," Lucy said, smiling at the man.

"Why did you save me, girl?" Smoker asked her.

She looked down at the man as she said, "Why would I leave you to die? You may be a Marine, as I've guessed you are by your jacket, but that doesn't mean I should let you die. You've never actually done anything to me, and even if you had, it wouldn't have made much difference to me. I don't like killing people, and I don't like leaving them to die. Defeating somebody in a fight is one thing, but killing them or allowing them to be killed is wrong, nakama or not. I may be a pirate, but that doesn't mean I have to kill. It means that I don't have to if I don't want to, and I don't have to follow orders to kill someone if that's what my higher ups ask for. I haven't been here for long, but I can already see how it's different from where I come from. Freedom is a rarity and a luxury only achieved by those who break the law, but doing almost anything is breaking the law here. And quite honestly, if we had aligned ourselves with your government, I already know that we wouldn't have been able to find a way back home. No, you would have used us as lab rats or as your personal dogs. Fairy Tail didn't stand for that when we were in Earthland and we answered to the Magic Council, and we won't do it on the Grand Line for the World Nobles. If I stay with the Straw Hats, I might have a chance to find a way home, and even if I don't, I at least have people that I can call my new home. So yes, I am a pirate, and yes I did save you, a Marine, but the term Marine and the term Pirate mean nothing when it comes to life and death."

Smoker was beyond confused, she was speaking about the government as if it was new to her, as if she hadn't grown up with it, but it was called the World Government for a reason, sure each country had its own leaders and laws, but even the most isolated of islands knew of the World Government and their laws.

Before he could ask her what her speech had meant, though, they were gone. His men came running to him, telling him they would find the Straw Hats, before they, too ran off. He left Tashigi in charge as he went back to the ship, he had a lot to think about.

~.~.~

Somehow, Chopper had managed to enlist the help of a giant sand crab that was willing to run them to the river, but after that, they would be on their own to cross it and make it to the capital. However, they were interrupted on their way there.

Crocodile had come to stop them from reaching the capital, but Luffy decided to stay behind and to take on Crocodile while the others moved on ahead to try to stop the battle before it began, they were already running tight schedules as it was and they couldn't afford a detour there.

After having a small bump in the road once reaching the river, they were able to successfully reach the opposite shore, where they were happy to see the Duck Squad waiting for them. It was through them that they made a plan to distract the numbered agents waiting for them and allow Vivi to safely make her way to the leader of the rebel army. With that, they separated, promising to meet back up in the capital after their individual battles were over.

~.~.~

"I'm honestly surprised you bought this so easily, after all, it's not exactly like I look anything like the princess," Laxus smirked, removing his hood.

Lucy removed her hood as well, "They probably thought I was the princess and you were sent to help me, moron," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh well, who cares? All I know is I have a lot of lingering anger over our current situation and it'll be nice to let it all out," he smirked, looking at the agents in front of them. "You're gonna have to fill me in on who you are, see I don't know much about your little company, and I don't really care, so I'm sorry to say, I have no idea."

A tall man with blue hair and a rather robust woman were standing in front of them, "I am Mr. 1.5, and this is Miss Easter, we're the second strongest pair in Baroque Works, and it wouldn't matter how much you knew about Baroque Works, you wouldn't know about us. We are the secret agents, the ones that nobody knows about except the boss."

"That's great for you, again, I don't really care who you are, I just want to fight someone," Laxus grinned.

"Now, that's not very nice of you," Miss Easter said, "Mr. 1.5, I'm assuming you'll be taking the brute, and I'll be taking the girl?"

"Yes, that sounds like the best plan, Miss Easter," the man said, clearly irritated with Laxus.

"Okay, then, this'll be fun," Laxus grinned again, before a streak of lightning hit from the sky, nearly blasting Mr. 1.5 from his place. "Oops."

Mr. 1.5 pulled out two long swords, and ran towards Laxus, slashing at him against his chest, but Laxus moved out of the way quickly, making it so only one of the swords barely grazed his chest. The man came at him again and again, each time with Laxus quickly moving out of the way.

Mr. 1.5 moved back and stood away from him, "You have quick reflexes for such a huge brute, I'll give you that," he said, before again going in for the attack.

Laxus was quickly getting bored, "I'm guessing that the reason you're so high up, supposedly, is because you're ideal for stealth missions."

Mr. 1.5 again moved back away from Laxus. "Oh really, and why would you think that?"

"Your attacks are made for someone who's not expecting them, they're quick and not really meant for quick succession. If you're for missions no one knows about, then obviously, you're the one he sends for quiet deaths, quick assassinations of people that don't see it coming. You aren't meant to fight someone with brute force, which is why you'll lose against me, this is a poor matchup, I almost feel sorry for you," Laxus said. "Lightning Dragon's Breakdown Fist!"

A large amount of lightning started forming around Laxus's arms, and he pulled his arm back and quickly punched in the direction of Mr. 1.5, sending the lightning directly at him, hitting him and all the areas around him, charring them black.

"Damn it, I went overboard," Laxus said, surveying the damage. Mr. 1.5 was fried to a crisp, along with all the rocks surrounding the area, and even some of the sand, "I didn't mean to put that much lightning into it, I just have so much pent up magical energy. I needed to release it somehow," he grumbled, not happy with the damage, he needed to have more control.

~.~.~

Lucy was fighting Miss Easter and they ended up travelling a fair bit away from Laxus and Mr. 1.5. She had had Capricorn and Leo out helping her to fight Miss Easter, who had been excellent with hand to hand combat, and Lucy suspected she had some kind of devil fruit power by the way she kept punching at the air and it seemed as if she was being hit by a rock, whenever she got hit.

Scorpio and Leo were taking quite a bit of damage, so she asked them to go home and take care of themselves before turning back to Miss Easter.

"So, what devil fruit have you eaten?" Lucy asked, eyeing the woman.

"You have a good eye, I ate the Rock Rock fruit, it makes my body as hard as a rock, meaning that any blow I give will feel like a boulder crashing against you, I'm sure you'd be covered in bruises after your fight with me, that is, if you survived," Miss Easter said, laughing. "What I want to know is what devil fruit you've eaten so that you can call upon people and make them serve you."

"I'll let you in on a secret," Lucy said, obviously annoyed, she didn't like how the woman was referring to her spirits, "It's not a devil fruit, and they don't serve me."

"I had guessed that, it has something to do with those keys, and don't worry Princess," she said, sneering at the word her spirits called her, "I'll take good care of them when you're gone, because I want that for myself, think about the promotion I'll get."

The woman's eyes got wide and excited when there was another flash of light, signaling that another person had joined them, she wanted to see what kind of fighter she would get this time.

The man that appeared had long forest green hair and eyes. His skin was a deep chocolate brown, and he wore nothing except for his deep green pants. On his pants was a black belt, with two loops on either side of his hips. On each of the loops was a green sheath, each holding one of his twin swords. The hilts of the swords were black and were decorated with emeralds, and they could see the green blades peeking out from under the sheath. In his left ear was an emerald stud, and on his back were two beautiful forest green wings. The man said, "I am Leviathan, the Prince of Envy, and I'm afraid, that you will never lay, your jealous, grubby hands on our keys."

Lucy's eyes widened, yet another of the Princes came to her. She still hadn't been able to work out a contract with Mammon earlier, and she couldn't create a contract now, as she was in the middle of the fight. It went against every fiber of her being having two spirits that she was not contracted to that had come to aid her.

"Do not worry about our contracts, yet, Goddess, we know that you will work them out with us when you have time," he said. "Now, I know that you have yet to see us fight in battle, so I think I will show you the power of the Seven Deadly Sins."

His gaze transferred from Lucy to Miss Easter, who was staring at him with such wanting that it made him sick. He would make quick work of the disgusting woman. Pulling his twin swords, he ran towards the woman, easily taking control of the fight. Wheras earlier, Lucy, Leo, and Capricorn were dodging while she attacked, it was now Leviathan who was attacking and Miss Easter who was dodging.

'This woman is only strong against those who can't fight back or don't know how, Lucy could have easily handled it without one of us. She was bragging about being in a high position, but obviously, she's used when they're being hired for murder,' Leviathan thought, knowing it wouldn't take much to take her out.

That's when a whip came forward and wrapped itself around Miss Easter's wrist, and then picking her up and throwing her into part of the rubble surrounding them. Leviathan turned to Lucy in surprise.

"I don't use my spirits as a weapon or a shield, we fight together, thank you for coming to join me, I hope that we will make a good team," Lucy said, smiling at Leviathan, and he could see the determination in her eyes. It had been a long time since he had been part of a team.

"Of course, my Goddess," he smirked at her, before turning towards the woman. He was surrounded by sand, one of the perfect places for him.

"Sand Suction," Leviathan said, twisting his blades around in a circle as sand started swirling in a circle, pulling the woman in his direction. As it formed a vortex around her, the sand cutting against her skin at the high speeds it was moving and travelling into her mouth, her nose, her eyes and ears, she continued to travel towards Leviathan, the sand forming a vacuum dragging her directly to him. When her hovering body reached him, he used his swords to knock her out.

"As you can see, my element is earth," Leviathan said, smirking at her.

"That was... amazing, I've never seen anything like it," Lucy said, staring at where the sand was just now starting to calm down and return to its normal place on the ground.

"Now go, Goddess, I will work out my contract with you later, if I am correct, you have a country to save," he said, smiling softly down at her.

She nodded, smiling as he disappeared, before making her way back to Laxus, seeing the ccomplete wreck he had left behind.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she said, "Laxus, I think you may have gone a bit overboard, you completely destroyed the area."

"I know Blondie, it wasn't on purpose. I just have so much pent up magical energy that was waiting to burst. I haven't been able to really let loose with my magic for a few days, which isn't good for me, I've got all this electricity and energy and it's gotta get out somehow," he said, sighing, "And I've been stressed thinking about Gramps and Fairy Tail, I have no idea how they could be doing right now."

"I understand, I guess it would be difficult having all that electricity coursing through you all the time, of course you'd need to let it out at some point, and better to let it out here than when we're on the ship in the middle of the water. Maybe we can ask Usopp to make you something to fry every once in a while," Lucy smiled.

Laxus let out a booming laugh, "Of course, he'd love that."

~.~.~

From there, each of the Straw Hats completed their own battle, including the newest members, and, of course, winning, before making their way to the capital, where they were then tasked with finding and destroying the bomb before it detonated while Vivi tried to stop the rebellion and Luffy went to take out Crocodile.

Things weren't going very well, and Pell had taken the bomb away from them and high into the sky in an effort to stop it from harming the people of Alabasta. Vivi was having a hard time stopping the battle, and nobody knew what was happening with Luffy and Crocodile.

However, soon, Crocodile was seen crashing into the middle of the crowd, causing everybody to immediately freeze and shut up. Then, Igaram came, to the delight of Vivi, and the two of them were able to explain the situation while the Straw Hats went off to search for their captain, finding him on the back of a man. They soon found out the man was Vivi's father, and they passed out in the streets while they waited for Vivi and the king to finish wrapping up the story and tying some loose ends before they were taken to the palace for medical treatment.

Little did they know that Tashigi had made a very difficult call in order to leave them there, and neither her nor Smoker were happy with taking the blame for Crocodile's demise, not that they had a choice.

Later, they found out that Lucy was right that Crocodile was not only after Alabasta. He also wanted to get his hands on an ancient and dangerous weapon, which made Lucy happy that Luffy had been able to stop him before it happened. She also had a brief thought for the woman, Miss All Sunday, who apparently had saved Luffy, as well as lying to Crocodile about the inscription on the poneglyph. This woman wasn't as bad as they had initially thought, and she hoped that the woman was still alive and okay, and found a way to continue to live on.

~.~.~

Back in Earthland, the people of Fairy Tail were getting worried. It had been well over a week since their friends had left, and they had a feeling something was wrong, so some of the members volunteered to go to the gate and see if there was anything suspicious they encountered on the way there.

Makarov left Gildarts in charge and decided to go himself, as he had always been excited at the prospect of meeting a dragon, other than Acnologia or the dragons of the dragon festival, and he couldn't turn down an opportunity like this, as well as the fact that he was growing increasingly worried for his children. He knew that if there was something that was keeping him there that the 7 dragon slayers AND the celestial mage couldn't handle, then it might be a good idea for him to come, which is the reasoning that prompted Mira to accompany him as well. Anything that the dragon slayers and Lucy couldn't handle would require some serious power, and while they could take Gildarts, it would be ideal to have him at Fairy Tail to watch things and take Mira, as Mira didn't want to play interim guild master.

Of course, Erza and Gray also decided to come, partially because of the same reason as Makarov and Mira, but also because they were worried about Lucy and Natsu, yes even Gray grudgingly admitted to his worry for Natsu. They of course had faith in them, but they were a team, and anything that they would fight, they would fight together.

Therefore, the group made their way to the forest and followed the route that the others had taken, reaching the heavenly gates, however, this time it had changed. The door had been unlocked, they could tell, but there was another key this time. When Erza took a tentative step towards the gate, her guild mark started glowing, followed by Gray's, Makarov's, and Mira's. The gates opened, which didn't make sense to them, as they didn't have the Zodiac keys necessary to unlock it.

Just before everything turned white, Makarov made sense of what had happened that had caused the gates to open.


	4. Travelling to Skypeia

**Chapter 4: Travelling to Skypeia**

Everyone was recovering fairly well after their battles and were well on their way to being ready to leave in a couple more days. Luffy was finally awake and kicking, and, of course, eating.

The Earthland mages were meeting together to discuss some things. They were trying to decide exactly what it was they wanted to do next.

"I like 'em," Natsu said, smiling happily, while Happy agreed with him.

"Yea, so do I," Sting said, along with Lector.

"I'm not opposed to the idea of staying with them for a while longer," Rogue said, while Frosh murmured his agreement.

"You all know I don't have a problem being on the opposite side of the law," Cobra said, shrugging.

"I'm fine with it, I don't really care, as long as they don't think they can tell me what to do," Gajeel said, growling towards the end.

"I agree with metal face, actually, as long as we still maintain some kind of independence, I'm fine with it as well," Laxus said.

Wendy just nodded, agreeing, along with Carla.

"Well, I'm happy you're all happy. I've been thinking about this decision for awhile now. I knew that in Alabasta would be the easiest place to separate from them if we decided we wanted to and I've been coming to a decision for a while. As far as the government goes, I'm pretty sure we've firmly placed ourselves against them already, this incident was too big to go back now. We could strike out on our own and quietly make our own way and find a way home, but from what Nami's said, navigating here can be trickly, and I think even with having the elements on our side, we'll have a difficult time, besides we all know that we can't do anything quietly, and we'll probably end up in more trouble on our own since we don't entirely understand the way this world works. The Straw Hats seem like a decent enough group, so I'd be happy spending our time in this world with them," Lucy said, smiling.

"Well, I guess it's settled then," Laxus said.

"Why don't you guys go tell the crew, I have some business to take care of," Lucy said, smiling.

After everyone had left, Lucy reached to her keys. First, she summoned Mammon to her.

"Hello, Goddess, I am Mammon, Prince of Greed, as you know," he said, once he appeared. "My element is water."

"It's a pleasure to officially meet you Mammon," Lucy said, smiling at him, "Is there anything in particular I need to know about you?"

"Like the others, I am possessive and of course I am greedy, I don't want you to forget about me, Goddess, so make sure that you don't, I want your attention on me, other than that, I don't think there's anything in particular that you need to know right now," he said.

Lucy smiled, he was a bit more formal than the others were, she could already tell. "Thank you, Mammon, and welcome to the family."

He smiled softly at her, before coming to her, kissing her on the forehead, and then softly whispering against it, "I will come to you when you need me, as your eyes, are my eyes."

He looked deeply into her eyes, and she saw his eyes beginning glowing as Beelzebub's did, and then he was gone.

Next, she called out Leviathan. He repeated the others' sentiments of keeping her safe, ending it with, "Don't neglect me, Goddess, I don't like it when the others are called more than me."

He then kissed her on the forehead, looking into her eyes as he disappeared, his green eyes glowing as they met her eyes.

When she made her way back to the others, she thought about what Mammon had said, _'My eyes are your eyes, so that's why they keep looking in my eyes, I need to get my hands on a mirror.'_

Her thoughts were cut short, though, when Cobra said, "Woah there Blondie, since when were your eyes five different colors?"

"Five different colors? Lemme see," Gajeel said, standing up and approaching Lucy. Sure enough, her eyes, while still mainly brown, had flecks of purple, orange, teal, and green scattered throughout. He had to admit that they looked beautiful. "Damn, Bunny Girl."

"I don't know how much I can tell you about that," Lucy said, looking slightly embarrassed.

"As long as it's not harming you, then that's fine," Laxus said shrugging, although his eyes looked into hers, seeing the color within them, and he was taken aback at how well the different colors meshed with her own.

"So, you guys decided to stay with the crew?" Vivi asked, trying to ease a bit of the uncertainty in the room.

"Oh, yes, it makes the most sense, given our situation, and we really like the crew, besides, these guys need adventure in their lives otherwise they'd find some way of destroying everything," Lucy laughed.

Their conversation was interrupted by a bright flash of white.

"Shit!" a male voice yelled.

"What just happened?" asked a female voice.

"Look around you, and you'll find the answer to that," came the voice of an old man.

"Gramps?" Laxus said, eyes wide.

"Erza?" Lucy said, her face mimicking Laxus's for once.

"She Devil?" Gajeel said, confused.

"ICE PRINCESS!" Natsu yelled, lighting himself on fire.

"Guys! We were so worried about you!" Mira said, tears beginning to fall from her eyes, "I'm so happy that you're all okay."

"Yea, but what the hell are you doing here?" Cobra asked.

"We went to investigate your sudden disappearance when suddenly, the gate opened, and there was a white light, and then we were here," Erza said confused.

"But the gate was only supposed to be able to open if all 12 of the Zodiac Keys were present to unlock it," Lucy said.

"I can explain that one," Makarov said, "You see, when Lucy originally unlocked the gate, the gate tied her magic to it, thus tying Fairy Tail to it. The gate recognized our guild mark and allowed us to pass through it, because it sensed our connection to her."

"Oh, wow, I had no idea that would happen, but you guys shouldn't have followed us, you see we're in another world. Now we're pirates, and we're travelling with this crew in order to try and find a way home," Lucy explained the situation.

"At the very least, we can be happy that we ended up where you guys are, it would have been a mess if we had ended up somewhere else in this world, like we did in Edolas," Gray said.

"Yea, that's true, although that probably has something to do with the gate connecting you to Blondie's magic, so it probably just sent you to her," Laxus said.

"GUUUYYYYSS!" a loud voice shouted, and it was only then that they realized that Luffy had been calling to them for a few minutes.

When they turned their attention to him, he pouted, "Who are they?"

"These are other mages from our guild," Wendy said, looking extremely happy.

"Who are they?" Erza asked.

"They're the pirate crew we joined," Rogue answered her.

They simply stared at each other for a while, before introductions were made, starting with the Straw Hat crew.

"Hello, my name is Erza Scarlet, I am a re-quip mage, it is a pleasure to meet you," Erza said, face stoic as she took in each of the Straw Hats. The Straw Hats had a vague notion of who she was and what she could do, as the Earthlanders had told them about her before.

"Hi, my name is Mira Jane Strauss, but you can just call me Mira, I use Satan Soul Take-Over magic," she smiled at them. The Straw Hats didn't recognize her name or her magic type and were curious as to what kind of magic that was.

"My name is Gray Fullbuster, and I'm an Ice Make mage, nice to meet you," Gray said, and then he began taking off his clothes, first his shirt, then his pants, and luckily, Lucy was able to stop him before he took off his underwear as well.

"Hello, children, my name is Makarov Dreyar, and I use a great deal of different kinds of magic, but I'm most known for my Titan magic," the little old man smiled at them.

"Dreyar? How do I know that name?" Nami mused aloud.

"Even though we all call him Gramps, he's Laxus's biological grandfather," Lucy explained.

"WHAT?! YOU MEAN THAT LIL GUY IS LAXUS'S GRANDFATHER?!" Usopp yelled, completely taken aback.

"Oh, I really should try to get in touch with the guild now," Mira said.

"We already tried using the communications lacrima, they don't work here," Lucy said.

"Hmm, we figured that might be the case, so Cana sent me with one of her cards, it might help us to be able to get back to her, though I'm not sure," Mira said.

"Cards?" Chopper asked.

"Cana is a card mage, she uses cards to do a bunch of different things," Lucy explained quickly.

Mira held up a card that had a picture of a barrel of beer on it, Mira tapped it gently three times. They waited for a moment, and then Cana came into view.

"Wow, it's just like a communication's lacrima!" Lucy said, "But how is it working here?"

"My guess is because I'm feeding magic into it from this side, and she's feeding magic into it from that side. Lacrima are unique to our world, so my guess is that it doesn't work outside of Earthland, while all Cana's cards need are magic," Mira said.

"What are you guys talking about?" Cana slurred from the other end, "Wait, LU BITCH! Where the hell have you guys been?!"

"Sorry, Cana, we kinda got sent to another world again, and now Mira and the others are here with us as well," Lucy said.

"You've got to be kidding me?" Cana said, "Am I drunk enough to be hallucinating yet? I think I've only had 8 barrels tonight though, that means it can't be a hallucination, I'm not nearly drunk enough."

"8 BARRELS?!" Nami yelled.

"Cana drinks all day, all night, every day, every night, she's a heavy drinker, but hey, at least she can handle her liquor, you have no idea how many bets I've lost trying to challenge her to a drinking competition," Laxus said.

"Cheers to that, that woman is a nightmare when she's really getting into it," Gajeel said.

"Yea, yea, yea," Cana slurred again, "So you're not sure when you're gonna get back and leave my dad in charge, I got it."

"Actually, could I speak to Gildarts?" Makarov asked.

"Hm? Yea sure," Cana said, "OLD MAN GET OVER HERE!"

"Yes, darling," Gildarts came up running, stars in his eyes.

"Gramps wants to talk with you," Cana said, handing the card over to him.

"Ah, Master, I see you've found them," Gildarts said, an easy smile on his face.

"WAIT DOES HE NOT HAVE AN ARM?!" Luffy asked.

"Or a leg," Natsu grinned, "they were bit off by a dragon!"

"SO COOL!" Luffy yelled, "That's just like Shanks!"

"Ummm... yea, kid, whatever," Gildarts said.

"Gildarts, I'm going to have to leave you in charge for longer than anticipated, it turns out we have been transported to another world again, and this time we're not sure how to get back, so we'll be doing some travelling to see if we can find anything out," Makarov said.

"But... Master, you know I don't wanna be in charge," Gildarts said.

"Well... It's too late for that, good luck with the brats, and don't let the paperwork pile up!" Makarov grinned, before cutting the connection.

"Why do I feel like you're happy you're here just so you don't have to do paperwork?" Laxus growled at his grandfather.

"Hehe, it's been awhile since these old bones saw any action, and I'm tired of paperwork, I think I'm entitled to a break every once in a while," Makarov grinned.

"So, are they joining the crew too?" Luffy asked.

"If you'll have us," Erza said, bowing down to the boy.

"SO COOL!" Luffy yelled, ecstatic about having more new members in the crew.

~.~.~

The next day, before the sun had risen, they were gone. It was a sad truth that they had to leave Vivi behind, but it was necessary. She needed to stay in Alabasta for her country. They also knew they couldn't make their connection to her outwardly known, as that would cause only more damage to the recovering country.

After their tearful goodbye, letting her know that they would always be her friends in the only way they could, they were able to maneuver the Marine ships to escape Alabasta, with the help of their old friend Bon Clay.

It was as they were settling down that they were made aware of another presence.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Zoro yelled when he spotted Robin.

"Why the hell didn't you tell us there was someone else on board?!" Usopp turned to look at the Dragon Slayers accusingly.

"We didn't think it was particularly necessary, she doesn't mean any harm," Gajeel said, shrugging.

"Yea but she was trying to kill us a few days ago!" Usopp countered.

"Technically speaking, I pinned Bunny to a wall and threw metal darts at her for fun," Gajeel said.

"I turned her, Mira, and Erza into stone and shot lightning at her while I set the rest of the guild in a fight against themselves," Laxus said.

"I tried to kill Lucy, Erza, Gray, Wendy, and Natsu, and tried to take over the world, twice," Cobra said.

"We sat and watched and laughed as our guildmate took Lucy's keys and then beat her on national television," Sting said, while Rogue nodded behind him.

"You can't tell us, not to accept someone because of something they did in the past, that's just not who we are," Lucy said, smiling. "As long as she's different now, that's all we really care about."

Robin looked taken aback listening to their stories, she had little clue as to who they were, all she knew is what she had witnessed from them and seeing the aftermath of their fights, but to hear them say these things, what they had done to each other, she never would have believed it.

"Why are you here, though?" Luffy asked, turning to Robin.

"You took away my death, when all I wanted to do was die, you saved me," she began, "And now, you owe me, I'd like to join your crew."

"Okay," Luffy said, laughing.

It was obvious some were more skeptical than others, but a nod from Cobra assured them that Robin wasn't aiming for any damage towards them, so they continued on, moving onto the next island.

~.~.~

"Please don't tell me they've already left!" Igaram yelled as he ran into the guest room and seeing only Vivi there.

"Well, yes, they're gone," Vivi said, confusion in her eyes.

"No! This isn't good, look!" He said, showing her the papers in his hands, "They have new bounties! The prices on their heads have sky rocketed! They need to know!"

"But, Igaram it's too late..." Vivi said.

"Just... Just look, Princess Vivi," Igaram said, terror in his eyes.

In front of her were four bounty papers: one worth 100,000,000, two worth 60,000,000, and one worth 55,000,000 beris.

The first had a boy in a straw hat, a big grin on his face and his hands out in a peace sign in front of him, "For crimes against the government and interfering with a Shichibukai: Wanted 'Straw Hat' Monkey D. Luffy Dead or Alive, 100,000,000".

The next had a man with green hair looking over his shoulder, a deathly glare set on his blood smeared face, "For defeating bounty hunter Daz Bones and 100 bounty hunters alone: Wanted 'Pirate Hunter' Roronoa Zoro Dead or Alive, 60,000,000".

The next had a picture of a blonde man with a large lightning shaped scar over his eye. He had a large coat on and spiked headphones on his ears. He had on a skin tight black sleeveless shirt showing off his muscular body along with maroon pants that fit tight to his legs. He stood with a wide stance, his arms crossed over his muscular chest as he smirked down towards the camera. All around him lightning cracked, filling the area around him. "For defeating a high-class assassin, credited with the deaths of several high ranking Marine officers and government officials, Wanted 'Living Lightning' Laxus Dreyar Dead or Alive, 60,000,000".

The final picture had a woman on it. She had medium length blonde hair, falling down her back messily. She wore a navy blue bikini top, covered with small golden strings. The ties of the bikini were glowing golden chains. She had on low waist black leather shorts, the tips of the golden chains holding the bikini bottoms up sticking out of the waistline. Around her hips was a belt with a large amount of keys sitting on her waist. In her hands was a navy whip, sparkling with golden stars within it. Her legs were covered by ripped fishnet tights and her feet were covered with black heeled ankle boots. She stood with her hands on her hips, glaring down at someone out of the camera's shot as she flicked her whip towards the person, her other hand placed on her keys. "For defeating a high-class assassin, credited with the deaths of several high ranking Marine officers and government officials, Wanted 'Celestial Goddess' Lucy Heartfilia Dead or Alive 55,000,000".

"Oh my god," Vivi said, "I never imagined their bounties would be so high, but... there's nothing we can do."

~.~.~

"So guys, tell us about your fights, I didn't get the chance to see them," Chopper said, stars in his eyes.

"Well, we had some weird people, the guy was Mr. 1.5 and the woman Miss Easter, claimed they were some special agents or something like that," Laxus said, shrugging.

"Our guess is that there job was for stealth, not full on battle. From what Laxus told me about the man, and from my fight with the woman, neither were very good at counter attacks, so it makes sense that they were used for high profile cases that involved stealth and quick kills, probably assassinations, murders for hire," Lucy said, her voice getting steadily darker. She never liked the idea of murder for hire.

"Yea, Wendy and I had the same thing, I had Mr. 2.5 and Wendy had Miss Holy Night, it took a bit of getting used to fighting them, they had a different style, especially since they didn't have magic, but we were able to beat them without too much of a fight," Gajeel said.

Sting nodded, "We took on Mr. 4.5 and Mr. 5.5 together, they weren't a guy and girl partner, but they were definitely partnered with each other, couldn't have picked a better fight, it was a tag team battle."

"Flame Brain and I had the same, I had Mr. 3.5 and Natsu had Miss Black Friday, although it took him a bit longer because he doesn't know how to actually use his brain and it took him a while to figure out how to fight them. Having magic will be an extreme advantage to us, because the normal drawbacks of a devil fruit user don't work on us and it leaves them wondering what they're up against. However, devil fruits are different too, and it'll take us a while to figure out exactly how they work," Cobra said.

"What do you mean?" Nami asked, curious.

"You see, for us, it's easy to fight magic users. Magic works in specific ways. Even though Natsu may not know these specific ways consciously, his subconscious brain and his body have picked up on it. Others of us understand magic and how it works a bit more profoundly, but that's besides the point. Magical energy is something we use to measure the power of our opponent and how much damage we've done to them, as well as how much energy they have left. However, with devil fruit users we don't have that or the basic fundamentals of magic to go back on. It's like learning a completely different fighting technique," Lucy said.

"We have to approach it differently. Magic is varied and has many different uses and types, but most of us know most of the different types of magic and how they can be used, and the extent of their power. Here, though, we don't have a complete understanding of how devil fruits work, and each is so unique that each different opponent has a completely unique and different fighting style," Laxus explained.

"This time around, we came across people who weren't exactly the best fighters in hand to hand, out in the open fighting, but we're already beginning to see our lack of knowledge. Even with the wide variety of magics, we're able to group them into different categories, like Dragon Slayer, Maker Magic, and Re-Quip magic, and by understanding those categories, we're able to decide the best way to fight our opponents," Cobra said, "Now I know there must be different categories of devil fruits to help in the same way, but with our lack of basic knowledge, it's like we're starting at the beginning."

"Most of us are fairly good at adjusting, so we were able to take on today's opponents fairly easily, however, the harder our opponents get, the harder time we may have, so just a heads up, it may take us a little while to fully adjust to the many different fighting styles here and getting used to the different forms of power," Lucy said. "I'd also be willing to bet that there's more than just these devil fruits in terms of ability."

"What makes you think that?" Zoro said.

"Well, look at you. You didn't have a devil fruit, but you knew you would be fighting people that did, so you adjusted, forming your own fighting technique in order to to be able to keep up with devil fruit users. Even in Earthland, there's fighting styles that are unique that aren't rooted in magic that were formed because of the need to fight magic users without magic, I'm sure there's a similar thing here to combat those with devil fruit powers," Lucy said.

"The point is, we got lucky that we got fairly easy opponents this last time around, the best thing we can do right now if get some information on devil fruits and start training. Blondie will probably the be the first to adjust out of all of us, she's got the most versatile magic, and she's also the one who's ability is going to provide the biggest advantage in terms of shock factor," Laxus said.

"The rest of us need to train, if you'd be willing to help us and teach use. I've already been able to pick up on three different types of devil fruits, though there might be more," Cobra said. When he heard the other members of the crew whispering questions in their heads, he answered, "There's the type Stretchy has, which seems to be some kind of general ability, his type is probably the one I know least about. Then there's the type Chopper has, the dog that Usopp and Chopper fought and that Dalton guy from Drum Island have the same type, it's transforming of two species to create a unique species that allows for shifting of shapes, kind of like a werewolf, I'm not too sure about how many different forms they have, but I'm sure Chopper knows. Then there's the type that Smoker, Ace, and Crocodile had, which allows them to turn into an element of some kind, smoke, fire, sand, and probably others. If we want to try to convince people that we have a devil fruit and not magic, it'll probably be easiest to try and equate ourselves with that type of devil fruit from my knowledge at the moment. The drawback is that while we can eat our elements, we can't actually change into them, so it might be easiest to equate it to Luffy's type, even though I don't know much about it, or act like we've had some kind of mutant devil fruit."

"You seem to have gotten most of them correct," Robin said. "The transformation devil fruit is known as Zoan type devil fruits, the elemental devil fruits are Logia type devil fruits, and Luffy's, and my type, is called Paramecia. They're the most common and their strengths can vary, depending on how their used. They don't really have a specific category and they're extremely varied in abilities, but their primary effect is granting the eater some super human ability, like a rubber body or the ability to grow new limbs. I think the idea of a mutant devil fruit might be the most interesting. It seems like, at least for the Dragon Slayers, it could almost be a cross between Zoan and Logia type devil fruits. As for Lucy, it really would keep them guessing, I highly doubt that if anyone actually knew what Lucy's ability was, they would equate it with a devil fruit. As for Gray, yours is very similar to a devil fruit I know, but if you keep going with the idea of mutant devil fruits, it might work, yours seems to have quite a bit more precision and detail from what's been described to me. Mira's could be seen as a truly devilish Zoan type devil fruit, and Makarov as a Paramecia type with a bit of a twist. Erza's however, is at the same point as Lucy's. I believe you two are the only ones that will really cause the government to wonder."

"But won't saying we have mutant devil fruits already cause them to wonder?" Gray asked.

"Yes, but not as much as Lucy and Erza will. You see, the government is already doing research on devil fruits, for example fusing them with inanimate objects. What they will wonder about in your case is what kind of research you've been conducting and how you got there," Robin said. "That being said, I agree with what you told me earlier, which is maybe just not saying anything at all, it'll mess with them a bit. I think the mutant devil fruit idea should be like a last resort."

"I think that could work," Lucy said, "Let's do that."

They then each went off to do their own thing, enjoying the day. Zoro however, was curious about Erza and her abilities.

"So, Erza, you're a swordsman?" Zoro asked.

"Yes, I am," Erza said, looking at him.

"Would you mind sparring with me? I'd like to see your ability, and I'm also curious about your type of magic," Zoro said, "Besides, sparring with other swordsman is the best way to improve."

"Yes, of course," Erza said, getting up and requipping into her Clear Heart Clothing, so that she could focus on her offense. The original Straw Hats' eyes widened at her display.

Zoro and Erza began sparring, and Zoro could see that Erza definitely had skill, and Erza could see the same in Zoro, however she was intrigued by his special attacks. Each one was different, and, while it didn't have magic behind it, it had a different kind of power. In the end, neither of them ended up the victor and they were left in stalemate, and Erza decided to ask about his techniques.

"I didn't learn them from anywhere, they're techniques that I developed on my own after I had learned the basics of swordplay," he explained, "I'm sure you have some of your own."

"Yes, I do, I suppose, however, they're mostly tied up with the magic of my armor, I don't really have any special attacks that are purely swordplay, although, maybe I should develop some," Erza thought. "We had been saying earlier that my ability would be difficult to write off as a devil fruit, so maybe I should refrain from using my magic as much as possible, especially in easier battles, in order to conserve my magical strength for later."

"If you ever want help, you can ask me," Zoro said.

"Thank you," Erza said, "but I think I already have an idea."

With that she walked into the training room and began practicing her attack.

~.~.~

It was a few weeks later when Nami grew confused about something.

"Hey guys..." Nami said, "For some reason, the log pose is pointing up, this could be a problem."

"Why would that be a problem?" Natsu asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Because, idiot, if the log pose is broken, it means we have no way of finding the next island!" Nami yelled, hitting Natsu over the head.

"It's possible that the log pose is pointing to the Sky Islands," Robin said, "There's a legend that there are islands in the clouds."

"What?! How?! Can we go?!" Luffy asked, suddenly excited.

That was when the ship fell out of the sky. Deciding to go investigate and see if it provided evidence in the existence of Skypeia, Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy went underwater to look at the ship. However, they ran into a bit of trouble with a giant monkey who didn't like that they were apparently infringing on his turf. After a brief fight and a terrifying encounter with giants, the Straw Hats moved on. Luckily, they were able to swipe a permanent log pose to an island called Jaya, which they hoped would provide them with some information on where they wanted to go: the Sky Islands.

~.~.~

Luffy and Zoro jumped off the boat, followed by Nami, who was dragging Lucy and Laxus, mumbling about keeping the two men from causing trouble. In her mind, she figured that Lucy had a pretty firm handle on the crazy dragon slayers, so she would probably do well with these guys. She also realized that between her body and Lucy's body, they could probably get some pretty good discounts on the things they needed. She also realized that Robin had already disappeared when Luffy and Zoro jumped off, and Erza and Mira seemed like they would cause a lot of trouble, should something happen. Then there was Laxus, who was terrifying enough to scare off anyone who would try to start something with them, but seemed to be the only one in their group, besides maybe Rogue, who seemed calm enough to stay away from danger, but Rogue didn't have the same frightening aura as Laxus.

She couldn't help the exasperated feeling she got when she thought about all of the trouble the crew got into, despite her best efforts to stave them off. Natsu and Gray seemed to have the exact same relationship as Sanji and Zoro, but she could at least understand them a little bit, being fire and ice, but she still didn't see why they needed to fight all the time. Sting always seemed to be looking to fight someone, whoever they were, and it was getting annoying. True, he was powerful, and could beat most people to a bloody pulp without much trouble, but still, she couldn't understand his need to search for a fight. Cobra was calm most of the time, but he could go a bit crazy himself, especially with his cocky attitude and his ability to hear everything she thought. She was finding that quite annoying in itself. Makarov was a pervert, and she couldn't for the life of her see why the Earthlanders seemed so terrified of him, he was just an old man whose thoughts always strayed in the wrong direction.

As she let the two mages go upon catching up with Zoro and Luffy, she noticed there was a sick old man sitting on a horse. Suddenly, he fell off of the horse onto the ground. He asked the group for help, causing Zoro to yell, "What? Not in the mood to help yourself?!" before grabbing Luffy and throwing the man back atop his equally sick and old looking horse.

Laxus looked on without interest, while Lucy just stared unbelievably at the man. The man offered the two an apple as a thank you for helping him, and Luffy, being the ignoramus that he is, obviously had to take a bite into it. As he took the bite, their attentions were drawn to the sound of an explosion in the building behind him. When they heard people talking about the explosion being caused by the apple, Zoro started to draw his sword, Laxus crossed his huge arms over his chest, his eyes narrowing at the geyser, Lucy put one hand to her whip, the other reaching towards her keys, and Nami was shaking Luffy in an attempt to get him to spit out the food he had swallowed.

The man chuckled and explained that Luffy would be fine, because, if he had indeed picked the wrong apple, he would have died at the first bite. As he led his horse away, he said, "Lucky kid," before turning and leaving.

The five people turned around and left, walking in another direction. They heard a man yelling from atop a building, and, when they heard that the man claimed to be a fighting champion, Zoro and Luffy both stopped, turning around at the challenge. Lucy grabbed Zoro by the ear, while Nami grabbed ahold of Luffy's face as they both yelled, "Don't even think about it!" Laxus chuckled at the sight of the two men being dragged off by the women, watching appreciatively at the way their asses swayed in their annoyance, smirking before following them again down the street.

When they came across a nice enough looking hotel area, the owner came running out nervously, asking them to leave, as the entire hotel had already been rented and that a man he called Bellamy would kill him, should he return and find the group there.

A man and a woman approached them, rudely telling them to leave and yelling at the owner for not getting rid of them. When Luffy asked if he could fight them, the man simply made fun of his clothes, throwing money at him so he could buy new clothes so that he wouldn't look like an orphan. Nami quickly grabbed Luffy's face, dragging him away by the mouth again, Zoro and Lucy following behind. As Laxus passed by the man, the woman had called him Sarquiss, he couldn't resist 'accidentally' shoving into him. Sarquiss, who hadn't clearly gotten a look at the man's face as he passed, only noticing his stature, took a step back, before assuming the man was an idiot, and addressed the blonde, "Watch where you're walking, you idiot."

Laxus had intended to just walk past him, but, upon his comment, he turned around again, prompting the others to stop and look back at him. Laxus's face was distorted into a terrifying scowl, his glare causing the two in front of him to shrink back. Laxus growled lowly, saying, "I suggest you watch where you're standing."

He smirked as the two attempted and failed suppressing a shiver and turned back around, his coat billowing behind him as he walked away.

They made their way to a local bar, where Nami decided to let off some steam. The bartender revealed that the town thrived on the pirates, that it essentially was a town for pirates to show off and fight. Luffy and a large man with long curly black hair and several missing teeth started fighting about the food and drink, immediately starting a competition about who could order the most food from the bar.

Nami started yelling at the boy, while Lucy and Laxus just laughed at his antics, the scene reminding them of a daily brawl at Fairy Tail. Lucy's attention was drawn back to the bar when a blonde man came in, looking for a pirate in a straw hat. His eyes ghosted over Zoro and Nami, before resting on her, looking her up and down slowly. She heard Laxus growl beside her, but not loud enough for anyone but her to hear. When his eyes met hers, he smirked, but the expression faltered when there was a flash of light and a man suddenly appeared.

The man had scarlet hair and eyes. His hair was medium length, falling into his eyes. His body was extremely well defined, the muscles tensed as he looked at his surroundings. He had pale, fair skin and wore only his maroon pants and silver gauntlets, along with a silver cuff around neck. Tied around his left upper arm was a scarlet cloth and on his back were a pair of huge scarlet wings. In his right hand was a battle axe. The blade was silver and the hilt was scarlet, decorated with rubies. In his left ear was a ruby stud. He looked around and said, "I am Satan, the Prince of Wrath."

Lucy wasn't entirely sure why he showed up, but Satan settled on her right, slinging an arm around her shoulder, sneering at the man in front of them before he too leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Your friends don't appreciate the way he's staring at you, and they got quite angry, so I used it as an excuse to come and meet you."

As her eyes met his, his sneer faded into a smirk at their closeness. She thought about what he had said, her mind running a mile a minute and her brows furrowing as she tried to decipher what he was saying.

The blonde man, along with the men who had followed him in, looked shocked at the sudden appearance of the man. The women took in the sculpted muscles and his lack of a shirt. He smirked at them, but didn't remove any of the closeness between himself and his Goddess. He turned his attention to the men staring at her and a scowl took over his face. His anger spiked up, because even though he hadn't actually met her yet, but he'd heard stories from the other princes, and had come to feel for her the same as the others, becoming attached to, and protective of, the blonde.

The blonde man who had come in first seemed to come to his senses and approached Luffy, saying, "So you're the brat that's worth 30,000,000 berries." He looked to the bartender and said, "I'll take a glass from the top shelf, and give the kid whatever he wants."

The bartender seemed skeptical, but did as the man asked as the rest of the crew chased the others in the bar away, the man named Sarquiss licking some blood off of his sword.

Laxus seemed wary, Satan stayed glued to Lucy's side, Lucy eyed the man with a glare, Zoro had his hand on his swords, and Nami looked worried. As Luffy took a sip of his drink, Bellamy grabbed onto the back of his head, slamming it into the wooden bar, splintering it across the hall.

In a split second, Zoro had a sword pressed to Bellamy's neck, ready to slash the man, while Laxus had transported most of the way across the bar, lightning sparking off his body, and his hand on Bellamy's head. Satan had drawn his axe, swinging the huge blade lazily over his shoulder as his arm moved from around her shoulders, pushing her behind him as his glare remained on the others in front of him.

Before anything got too out of hand, though, Nami took a second to ask about the Sky Islands, causing the entire bar to burst out laughing at them, which was not appreciated by anyone in the room. While laughing at them, Bellamy began beating on Luffy and Zoro, as well as trying to beat on Laxus, but he already had a scowl on his face and was moving to drag the other two out of the bar, significantly moodier than he had been five minutes previous. He understood Zoro and Luffy's ideology on not fighting back, it wasn't worth the energy, but it didn't mean he was going to let some brat beat him up just because he didn't feel like actually fighting him.

He set Luffy and Zoro down outside of the bar and began walking towards the ship, placing his headphones over his ears as he glared around him. What he wouldn't give to put that little piece of shit in his place, however, he wouldn't, he'd just blast the shit out of the first thing he saw that he could.

He paused when the guy on the street from earlier began speaking to Luffy, however, he wasn't particularly impressed with the guy. The black haired man looked from Luffy to Zoro to Nami to Laxus and his eyes widened. The scowl on Laxus's face was trully impressive, but what caused his eyes to widen were the little sparks he was letting off, electricity literally travelling all across the man's body and he had no doubt if so muched as touched the man at that moment, he might be electrocuted. He quickly shifted his gaze to the woman who was looking at the man next to her, having a hushed conversation with him, before the man literally disappeared in a flash of red light.

"It seems you've got a pretty interesting crew Straw Hat," the black haired man laughed.

"Haha, yeah, they're not from around here," Luffy laughed and smiled.

Lucy smiled at him, shrugging, "I guess that's one way of putting it."

Laxus simply scowled, before turning and walking back in the direction of the docks.

"I guess that's our cue to go, I really hope he doesn't completely destroy the town," Lucy said, sighing before following after him, followed by Luffy, Zoro, and Nami.

When they got back to the ship, they let the others know what they found out, or rather what they didn't find out in town, but luckily when Robin came back, it seemed like she had some more interesting information to share with them, so they made their way to the other side of the island.

As they were on their way, Lucy decided that now would be the best time to call Satan back out and make a formal contract with him.

"Hello Satan, as you probably know, I'm Lucy Heartfilia, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said smiling brightly at him.

He smirked back at her, "And you as well, Goddess, as I told you before, I am Satan, the Prince of Wrath. As for my element, it's fire, and I'm quite useful in hand to hand combat with my axe. Also, you should know that I get angry quite easily, and I hate it when people even attempt to harm what's mine."

"I see," Lucy said, nodding at him. "What did you mean earlier?"

"Earlier?" Satan cocked an eyebrow at her. "I can't tell you that, you'll have to figure it out on your own."

She began thinking about what he had told her, that her friends' anger had pushed him to meet her... did they come to her when she was facing somebody that was committing their sin? Up until Satan, they had always shown up when she was opposing somebody that displayed their sin... but she wasn't opposing her friends.

"Sin is a funny thing isn't it... everyone commits it, even our friends," Satan said, smirking again, she was figuring it out, and it was making him happy. The sooner she figured it out, the sooner they could start letting her in on their other secrets.

"I see now, when I'm around people committing your sin, you're able to see whether I embody that sin, or the opposite virtue by comparison. You guys are the embodiments of your sins, but you also hate those sins, although I don't know why..." She said.

Satan's smirk shifted to a grin, albeit a little scarier than most, "You've already figured out so much, however, the answer to why we hate our sins is an answer for a different time, perhaps you'll come to figure it out when you've contracted with all seven of us."

Lucy nodded, maybe she would, if and when the last two of the seven princes came to her.

"If..." Satan smiled, for him and the other Princes, they knew it wasn't a matter of if, but a matter of when, and the reason for that, is because she still thought of it as an if. "I'm going to return to the spirit world, now Goddess, but know that I will always protect what's mine, given you provide me with the same."

"Yes, of course, you have my promise as a Celestial Mage," Lucy said, determination in her eyes when she felt the kiss land on her forehead and saw his crimson eyes glowing in front of hers, and then he was gone.

~.~.~

When they got to the other side of the island, they learned the North Blue story of Noland the Liar, and how the man had died defending a claim that he couldn't back up.

"In my experience, nobody is willing to die over a lie," Cobra said, "So there had to be some sort of truth behind it."

"That's true, most people would rather tell the truth in the hopes that they would survive than die defending a lie," Robin said, thinking about it.

"So do you guys actually think there's a City of Gold on the island?" Nami said, berri signs appearing in her eyes.

"Hmm... I'm not sure, I suppose it's possible, but chances are it's location had moved somehow between his first expedition and his arrival to Jaya," Robin said.

It was then that they met Montblanc Cricket, whose initial reaction to their presence had been to attack them. However, he soon fell unconscious, leading Chopper to taking care of him, with Wendy's help. She had been learning about the medicine there and applying it to her magic. So far, most things were fairly similar to Earthland, which made the magic adjustment much easier.

"He should wake up soon," Wendy smiled.

They were then greeted by the monkey from before and the person who was apparently his brother. Luffy immediately hit it off with the two and they were enjoying their time before Cricket woke up.

Cricket told them what he knew of the Sky Islands and how to get there, and then he agreed to help them to accomplish their goal. The Straw Hats really hit it off with the three and were having a great time before Cricket sent them to get a South Bird, something that was apparently necessary to make their way to the Sky Islands.

However, when they came back, they weren't at all pleased to see that Bellamy had come and not only stolen Cricket's gold, but beaten their new friends up, causing Luffy to run off to Mock Town in order to get the gold back and to get his revenge.

Makarov sent Laxus after him, and when Zoro asked why, pointing out that Luffy had said he didn't want help, Makarov explained, "Laxus has been agitated since this morning, he has a complicated history, and at this point in his life, he doesn't take kindly to looking down on others based on appearance or perception. He also doesn't like the mocking of one's dream. He needs to get this out of his system before he explodes. There's also the fact that if they're running behind, Laxus can greatly speed them up by transporting here via lightning."

Luffy and Laxus made their way to Mock Town just as the residents discovered just how high their bounties actually were. Bellamy had been able to calm them down with stories of fake bravado and cheating their way to bounties when they showed up. Luffy took on Bellamy, while Laxus decided to take on his so-called crew.

"So, you guys are actually okay with answering to that annoying ass?" Laxus said, lightning sparking off of his body.

"Bellamy is our captain, and a damn good one at that," Sarquiss growled, however, its affect was lost on Laxus.

"Did you just growl at me? Do you honestly think that your growl could hold a candle to a dragon's?" He asked, his own growl slipping through his sharpened teeth, causing Bellamy's crew to shiver in fear. They had never heard such a primal sound before.

Then, before they even knew what was happening, a ball of lightning was forming above their head as Laxus recited, "Resounding through the air, the roar of thunder, plunge from the heavens and reap destruction."

The ball of lightning crashed down on them, immediately knocking them out. He turned his attention to Luffy to see him throw his final, and only, punch of the night. They then grabbed the gold and began making their way back to the ship, unaware of the black haired man watching them intently as they left.

~.~.~

When they had finally returned, the ship was just preparing to leave to find the knock up stream, and Laxus and Luffy quickly boarded the ship after handing Cricket his gold. With the help of their new friends, they made their way to the center of the forming whirlpool and waited for it to knock them up to the sky, literally.

They were followed, apparently, by the black haired man from the island, who was yelling at them about bounties and taking them in, which just confused them, because, as far as they knew, only Luffy had a bounty, and it was 30,000,000, not 100,000,000 as the man was claiming. The black haired man and one of his crew mates then held up four papers for them to see.

As the Straw Hats looked at the papers, they gasped. Not only had Luffy's bounty increased, but Zoro, Lucy, and Laxus had all gained a bounty, and large ones at that.

Luffy smacked Zoro on the back in congratulations, while Zoro just laughed saying, "Not a bad bounty, huh?" holding up his beer cup.

Laxus smirked towards the other slayers, "Guess I really am the strongest of the slayers, huh?"

"That's nothing to be proud about!" Makarov yelled at him, while his enlarged hand slapped Lucy on the butt, who had started freaking out as soon as she had seen the picture. "I have a bounty?! I don't want to be wanted. At least it was a good picture though… HEY WHY ARE YOU HITTING ME?!"

The black haired man watched the exchange with a startled look on his face, wondering what, exactly, was happening on the rowdy ship. He was almost disappointed that he would have to beat them and turn them in, they seemed like people he might actually like.

Suddenly the Knockup Stream hit them, sending them into the air, and breaking the tiny raft Blackbeard and his small crew were drifting on. When his crew started to complain, Blackbeard reassured them that he would be back, and when he was, they would take him out then.

The Straw Hats started freaking out and grabbing onto anything they could to stay on the ship as they started flying upwards with the stream of the current. They began worrying about falling back into the ocean, but with Nami's help, they were able to ride the stream all the way up until they reached an ocean in the sky.

When the ship had settled a bit, they looked around them, but unfortunately they didn't notice any other land, or any other life forms at all, at least until a masked man came and attacked them. Unfortunately, they were having a hard time with the thin air and were having a difficult time fighting the man when another man appeared before them, riding a strange pink bird.

The man dressed as the knight scared the other man away and he introduced himself as 'The Sky Knight' which made many of the Earthland mages snicker as they looked at Erza, who was sizing up this other 'knight'. He explained to them where they were and where they must go and gave them a whistle in case they ever needed his help again. When he left, he told them that his name was Ganfall and his bird tranformed into a truly hideous pegasus horse.

They made their way to the rather heavenly looking gates, which only caused the Earthlanders discomfort as they thought of the gates that had brought them to this world, however, luckily for them, these gates didn't transport them to a different world and the woman at the gate allowed them to pass without paying the entrance fee.

What they saw when they reached the other side of the gates was breathtaking, and many of them immediately jumped off the ships to play in the shallows of the ocean or on the cloud beach in front of them.

It was on this beach that they met Conis and her father, Pagaya, who explained to them how the wavers worked. Nami immediately took off on it, taking to it naturally with her understanding of weather. Luffy was jealous and began pouting, but the prospect of food got him happy again as they made their way to their new friends' house for food.

As Sanji and Pagaya prepared the food, Conis explained to them the concept of dials and how they worked. Even the Earthlanders were intrigued, as the dials seemed fairly similar to lacrimas, which they used for many of the same purposes as dials, only without needing to use magic. Obviously, some of the Straw Hats truly understood the concept of dials while others were happy just thinking of them as cool toys and not really caring how they worked.

When they were sitting down to eat, though, Conis and Pagaya expressed their concern for Nami. They explained that there was an area not to far from there that was forbidden to civilians, and they were worried that Nami had seen it and gone to explore without the knowledge that it wasn't open to the public.

Obviously, Luffy, Natsu, and Sting, as well as Happy and Lector, wanted to travel to this forbidden island, to make sure that Nami was okay, of course, and they quickly finished their meals before heading down to the boat, followed by the rest of the slightly hesitant crew. However, they were met with a group a people called the White Beret's that told them that they were actually criminals, since they had not paid the entrance fee.

Of course, being who they are, every attempt they made to get out of the trouble that they were in, inevitably led them to be in more trouble as a fight broke out between the Straw Hats and the White Berets, who had interesting weapons the Straw Hats noticed. The appearance of clouds out of their dials caught their attention and they were able to adjust fairly well to the new technique.

Upon Nami's return, things took an even worse turn, and the Staw Hats were soon trying to create a plan of escape. Things didn't go as planned, though, when Luffy and some other went back to Pagaya's house to get some food and dials that they could use, leaving Makarov, Natsu, Gajeel, Mira, Laxus, Zoro, Nami, Robin, and Chopper, as well as all of the Exceeds, on the ship.

Conis came to tell them about a possible way off the island and told them to raise anchor for when the others came back down so they could leave at once. However, once they had raised anchor they were immediately taken away by a giant grab to the forbidden island.

Conis went back to her house to tell the others the news, telling them that the ship, along with their crewmates were taken to be used as sacrifices and hostages, and that in order to get them back, they would need to go to God's Island and undergo God's judgment.

She told them that she would help them to get to the island to help them, leading them through town, where the townspeople avoided them. Cobra looked around, understanding completely what was happening, however, he didn't say anything.

When they reached the docks, Conis couldn't hold it in anymore, knowing they weren't bad people and that they didn't deserve this, her guild outweighing her supposed duty to "god".

The Straw Hats grew angry with her, but not for the reason she suspected, and then Cobra revealed it to her, "I already knew, I can hear your soul."

Her eyes widened, wondering why he would come with her if he knew it was a trap, that she was leading them to death.

"Because, girl, we were planning on going whether you led us or not, I'm not a huge fan of teamwork and doing the right thing or whatever, but one thing's for sure, I'm not spending the rest of my life here, and I'm sure as hell not letting some self-proclaimed god try to kill me and keep me here, which means if I want to get the hell out of here, I need to get our ship and our crewmates, and the only way that's going to happen is if we go to that island and beat god and his little servants to a bloody pulp," Cobra said. His words scared her, and her eyes widened.

Lucy cleared her throat, "What he means to say it, we're not afraid of them, and we would have gone to help them regardless of whether or not you led us there. Cobra has a weird way of expressing it, but we all care about each other very much, and we would never leave even one of our own behind."

Just then, a beam fell from the sky, coming straight for Conis, and the Straw Hats could hear the whispers of the townspeople, saying it was god's judgment and she was being punished for telling them about their duty. Luckily, Ganfall was able to swoop in and save Luffy, who had gone to protect her, and Conis, putting Luffy back on the ground and promising to keep Conis and her father safe for the time being while they went to get their friends.

As he flew off, Lucy thought about the beam that had shot from the sky, and how it felt eerily similar to Laxus's magic.


	5. God's Game

**Chapter 5: God's Game**

Luffy, Sanji, Usopp, Lucy, Gray, Cobra, Wendy, Sting, Rogue, and Erza made their way over to God's Land on a small boat, dodging the various booby-traps blocking their way, until they came across 8 large arches in the forest. Written across the arches were "Ordeal of Swamps", "Ordeal of Iron", "Ordeal of Spheres", "Ordeal of Cages", "Ordeal of Beasts", "Ordeal of Opposites", "Ordeal of Swords", and "Ordeal of String".

"You know, chances are, that if we want to get off this island, we're going to have to go through each of the ordeals," Lucy said as they were trying to decide which ordeals to go through, "We can try to take care of as many of these ordeals as possible today by splitting up."

"I agree, that seems like the most logical choice, given the choices before us, I think that we should be able to handle most of them today," Erza said.

Luffy, Sanji and Usopp headed through the arch towards the Ordeal of Spheres. Erza crossed the threshold into the Ordeal of Swords. Lucy and Gray decided to tackle the Ordeal of Beasts. Cobra and Wendy went to the Ordeal of Cages. Sting and Rogue went to the Ordeal of Opposites.

~.~.~

As Erza stepped into the Ordeal of Swords, walking along the forest, she couldn't see anything close to a sword, until suddenly, one went flying by her face. She narrowly dodged the attack, and flipped backwards, readying a defensive stance. Suddenly another sword came towards her, and she went to block it, but the sword melded to her block and shot out to wrap around her, encompassing her in its sharp edges as it sat in a circle around her waist. Her arms lying flat against her sides, her sword clanking to the ground below her.

A man walked out of the shadows, holding several swords in his hands. As she took a closer look at the swords, she noticed that they looked quite a bit like the clouds that she had seen earlier. She realized that these swords must actually be made of clouds. She smirked as she eyed the man in front of her. She knew exactly how to handle this particular problem.

The man before her, who she assumed was one of the priests, had medium length black hair, pulled back into messy bun at the nape of his neck. He had black scruff on his chin, and he had on black leather pants with a white v neck shirt.

"I'm Jebediah. Welcome to the Ordeal of Swords. There's only a 40% survival rate." He smirked at her, but then he noticed her smirk.

"Your swords are made of clouds, are they not?" she asked, a gleam in her eyes. He nodded slightly, unsure how he should take her cocky attitude.

Suddenly, the woman before him was encompassed in a bright light. When the light died down, the woman had changed out of her previous clothes. Replacing her silver armor and blue skirt was a long white robe, held together by several golden armor pieces, including gauntlets, chest plate, and long golden sandals. Her hair, which had been lying straight down her back, was now up in a long ponytail. In her right hand was a sword, with a long, thin blade. The blade was a blueish silver color while the hilt was completely white. His face paled as he realized that not only had his sword failed to cut through her armor and actually cut her, but it started dissipating upon contact with the armor.

She smirked towards the dumbstruck man, "This is my Sky Empress Armor. Considering clouds are part of the sky, I doubt that your attacks will do much to harm me, unless you happen to have an actual sword and are practiced in its ways."

The man shook the confusion and surprise from his face, focusing solely on the woman before him. He could see that he would have to try a bit harder in order to best her. As she swung her sword around, he easily dodged the attacks, with the help of his mantra. However, every time he managed to fit in an attack towards her, she blocked it easily with her sword, and, as soon as the cloud hit her silvery blue blade, it would dissipate, disappearing into the air. As soon as his sword would become one with the wind, her barrage of attacks continued.

He hated to admit it, but she was landing quite a few blows on him. Even if he could predict her moves, her speed was incredible, and the force behind her sword terrifying, and he found himself unable to block as the sword zig zagged through the air seamlessly. He didn't understand how she could be moving through the air so easily, as if the air itself was splitting for the blade's entrance.

_'Even though I'm attacking him nonstop, he keeps dodging, and I've only managed to land a few blows on him, I guess it's time to practice my new moves,'_ Erza thought as she assessed the situation.

Although to him her attacks might seem random, she was actually building her knowledge of her opponent. He was either very agile or he could read her movements, possibly a little of both. However, she could see he was tiring, and he favored his right side a little too much, often leaving his left side open.

She feigned attacking him, but instead used the momentum of his block to push herself backwards, a safe distance from her opponent.

"Cards of Fury!" she yelled, slashing her sword four times in two sets of parallel lines, creating a box on his chest.

Then running towards her opponent, she yelled "Demon in Disguise" as she flung her arms around, seemingly randomly. She requipped back into her original armor and blue skirt, as the man turned towards her.

"You shouldn't turn your back on you-" he was cut off by the blood that spilled out of his mouth. Suddenly, pain rushed through him.

He had felt the first attack, the four slashes cutting him right above his heart, leaving a rectangular mark there, but the second attack hadn't hurt him, or so he thought. Looking down, he saw dozens small incisions in his skin. He thought about the names of her attacks, 'Cards of Fury' and 'Demon in Disguise'. The rectangular shape on his chest looked to be about the size of a tarot card, cutting deep into his skin, while the other marks truly were a demon in disguise. On their own, a single one of the slashes from the second attack wouldn't have been much damage, but the dozens of small gashes littering his body were taking a toll on him, especially paired with the deep incision of the first attack. He also noticed that each of the smaller cuts were over a vital artery, vein, or organ. He realized what had happened.

_'The names were fitting,'_ he thought as he fell over onto the ground unconscious.

"Thank you Cana and Mira, for inspiring my first two nonmagical sword techniques," Erza said after the man fell behind her.

Cana had inspired her Cards of Fury technique, the girl's blunt and, sometimes painful, honesty and in your face nature led Erza to a rectangular attack that would force any opponent to take notice, making dark gashes directly over the heart.

Mira had inspired the Demon in Disguise technique. Many times, Mira could take someone down without transforming until the last second. Scenes from Mira's fight with Jenny flashed through her mind. The seemingly random jabs towards the opponent, appearing to leave no harm, like the initial pose off between the women. Then, just as the fight was ending, the transformation was completed, with a burst of pain quickly ending the battle, just as Mira had done when Jenny's intentions had become clear. The shallow gashes, which laid over specifically directed points of weakness, would be ignored at first, until the body would suddenly realize the danger it was in, the demon being disguised by a seemingly weak and harmless exterior, just like Mira. She had asked Chopper for some of the vital areas of the body, and had practiced on the dummy for hours, created about 50 different combinations of the 25 strikes she made to her opponent, so that each time it could be different, should she use it more than once on the same opponent.

She smiled as she walked along the shore of the river, heading towards what she hoped would be her friends' direction.

~.~.~

Although they had originally met on less than ideal terms, Wendy no longer felt the fear she used to when she was with Cobra. She didn't expect any hostility from him, because, as she had pointed out when they first got to this world, he wanted to get back just as much as they did. It's not as if he had anything to look forward to here. Regardless of their past, she felt safe around him, so she didn't mind working with him during the Ordeal of Cages.

Cobra didn't really like working with others, apart from Cubelios. True, he had been part of Oracion Seis, but he hadn't felt particularly close to them; they had merely had the same goal. However, he felt a weird sort of protectiveness for Wendy, as if she was his younger sister. He would rather die than let anyone know about his affection for the younger slayer, and he had figured that his affection for her had actually stemmed from the fact that they were both slayers, even if he was second generation. All of the older slayers had come to feel rather protective of the youngest, and only female, slayer, so he decided he was going to chalk it up to some form of dragon instincts and call it a day without overthinking things.

After the two had been walking down the path for a while, a white cage had suddenly appeared before them. Cobra growled, he had been behind a cage for far too long, and he was not too keen on having to reenter one in a new world, especially with the young girl and her flying cat with them. Although, the cage wasn't exactly a surprise given the name of this 'Ordeal'.

He went to bend the bars out of the way, but they wouldn't budge. Instead they only grew larger at his contact. That's when a man with sky blue hair reaching his feet approached them from behind a tree, "Hello, my name is Asriel, and welcome to the Ordeal of Cages."

"So, the cages are made out of some weird cloud stuff that grows upon physical contact with it, huh?" Cobra said out loud. The man seemed startled by his knowledge of the ordeal. Cobra just smirked at his reaction, there was no point in telling the so called priest exactly what they had up their sleeve, after all, it wasn't like he was prepared to give up any information either, at least not willingly.

Wendy thought for a moment about the properties of the cage. If physical contact would cause the cloud to grow, she wondered what, exactly, was considered physical contact. Given the fact that she or Cobra could use ranged attacks with poison or wind, she wondered if they would make the bars extend or if they would decimate the bars and free them.

"I like the way you think," said Cobra. He let out a Poison Dragon's Roar in one direction to see what would happen, and grinned sadistically when he saw the puddle of cloud and goo remains at his feet. He didn't even know clouds could form puddles, and by the thoughts of Asriel, apparently neither did he. Cobra stepped out from behind the barrier, followed closely by Wendy and Carla, who looked at the puddle curiously, also wondering how a cloud could become a puddle.

Asriel, thinking he could get the jump on his opponents, took out two dials and pressed the vertex, white clouds erupting out of them and towards his prey. Cobra quickly dodged, while Wendy and Carla, not sensing the oncoming attack, was encompassed by a net of cloud, which quickly grew around her. Cobra couldn't risk sending his poison at the net, scared it would hit Carla. He knew that Wendy would be fine, but Carla wouldn't and they were in the middle of the fight, so Wendy wouldn't be able to heal her quick enough, especially with her tiny body. He was trying to come up with some way to free the girl, when the clouds blew away from the girl.

'They're solid, how could the clouds just blow away?' Asriel thought. Cobra, wondering the same thing, looked towards the girl, listening to her thoughts and then smirking. Of course, she was the Sky Dragon Slayer, clouds were her easiest enemy. Although solid on almost anything, a strong gust of wind would easily blow the clouds away.

Wendy smiled timidly at the smirking Cobra. Then he heard her thoughts, _'Roar at him, I'll use my wind to increase the range of your attack.' _

Cobra did as she asked, sending a loud roar of poison straight towards the man, while Wendy sent her roar towards him as well, the two meeting in the middle and forming a beautiful unison raid, blue and purple mixing together and headed straight for… the air, before crashing, and decimating, the tree that was behind where the priest had been standing.

Cobra looked around, only to see Asriel hanging off a tree branch behind them, _'That was close, good thing I have my mantra. They completely destroyed that tree with that attack, but what exactly are their abilities anyways, and the way they combined together, I've never seen anything like it.'_

Cobra cursed, whispering, "He can sense our attacks."

Asriel didn't hear or even notice Cobra speaking, but Wendy did. Her eyes widened, but her mind quickly set to work trying to figure out what could work,_ 'That attack would have left him down if he hadn't moved. We need to get him so he can't go anywhere, and then we can easily blow him away, the only question is how we prevent his movement… Cobra can hear his thoughts! If he can hear where he's going, we can… no wait, he can just move again, he knows where our attacks are. If only we could use one of us to block him while the other launched the attack, but I can't hear his thoughts, so Cobra would have to block him, but my roar would only hurt him, I don't think it'd be enough to knock him out…'_

That's when Cobra got an idea, he whispered, "Eat my poison."

Wendy eyed him questioningly, before she suddenly remembered, Gajeel ate Rogue's shadows, Natsu ate Laxus's lightning, why couldn't she eat the poison to boost up her attack, allowing for a Poison Sky Dragon Roar, while Cobra blocked the man from moving away? She nodded in understanding, pretending to prepare for an attack on the man before them.

Cobra moved to the other side of Asriel, so that he was across from Wendy on the man's other side.

Cobra realized that, while Asriel could sense their attacks, he couldn't actually hear their thoughts or plans, he could just... sense the attacks. At this point, he couldn't really grasp exactly what this 'mantra' ability was other than a pain in his ass.

He also realized, that while able to perhaps dodge attacks, due to the fact that he knew how and where they were coming, it didn't mean he was strong enough to actually block them or to endure them. Going on opposite sides of Asriel allowed their plan to look like a shot for him from two sides in an effort to corner him, when it was really a chance for Cobra to shoot his poison at Wendy without the other man figuring out they were planning something, even if he didn't know what it was.

Sensing an oncoming attack of the same caliber, Asriel jumped up right as the man yelled "Roar". He saw the purple acidic substance go straight for the girl, and he smirked. He had figured out he couldn't get them with his cages or clouds, but he could manipulate them to do his work for him. Asriel was by far the smartest of the priests, using his cages to strategically trap members of the same group, forcing them to hurt each other or themselves in their attempts to escape. It seemed these two had fallen into his trap.

"Wendy!" The little white cat yelled, alarmed at the turn of events.

His smirk quickly left him as the girl smiled while the man smirked, and he watched as the girl started ingesting the purple substance.

_'What the hell?'_ he thought, then chastised himself for cussing, as Eneru wouldn't appreciate it. The girl had finished, eating, for lack of better terms and understanding on Asriel's part, what he had assumed to be poison, and that's when it happened. Cobra had jumped up and dragged him down towards the ground. He had been so busy focusing on the girl that he hadn't bothered to pay attention to the man, figuring the next play would be hers.

He tried to move, but something was stopping him. The net he had been using had been cast over him somehow, the bars holding him down as the girl stared at him. His eyes widened in horror when he took in the small, seemingly harmless and innocent girl before him. Her eyes had narrowed, eyebrows coming together, her face set in determination. Light blue and purple danced around her small form, wafting off of her. She looked terrifying, and the bright yellow glow in her eyes only intensified his fear as he saw a flash of a brilliant sky blue dragon behind her, before it disappeared instantly. For a girl so small, and he assumed young, she was terrifying.

"Poison Sky Dragon's Roar!" the girl yelled and the earlier attack of light blue and purple fled from her mouth, mixing together in perfect harmony as the attack came towards him. The bonds holding him down danced away from the oncoming wind, but he didn't have time to move as the attack hit down on him, engulfing him in poison and wind. He screamed out in agony before the black hit him.

When Wendy finished her attack, she looked up to see the startled but proud face of her white exceed and the smug smirk of her companion staring at her. She couldn't help the blush that stained her cheeks as they stared at her, and, as if on cue, Carla flew up to her and hugged her, telling her how impressive she was. Cobra set his hand on her head, ruffling her hair as he nodded his head approvingly.

~.~.~

Sting and Rogue were trudging through the forest after crossing under the arch that read "Ordeal of Opposites". They had decided upon this route, as, being light and shadow, they themselves were in fact opposites, so who better than them to undergo this 'ordeal'?

The found themselves in an open clearing in the forest, something they hadn't expected, but they shrugged and continued to follow the cloud stream that went straight through the middle of said field, until they were stopped by two flying clouds coming at them from opposite directions. They quickly dodged the projectiles, when they saw a man come out of the forest.

On his right side, the man had blonde hair and deep green eyes, while on his left, his hair was black and his eyes were a light blue, practically white. His clothes were black and white, reflecting each other.

"I am Aikido," he said, "You have now entered the Ordeal of Opposites."

The two projectiles they had just dodged split into four projectiles, and continued to assault them, coming at them from both sides. Although they were quick to dodge, it was hard to continue as the projectiles continued to split further and further until there were so many it was hard to see anything other than the blurry white darts flying through the air. With so many coming towards them, and with them coming in a seemingly random order, it became harder and harder to dodge them.

"What the hell?!" Sting said, obviously becoming annoyed as a large beam of light erupted from him completely filling the area around him with light energy and destroying several of the darts. Every time he would destroy them, another one would pop up and attack him.

_'What- what the hell was that?' _Aikido thought, never having seen anything like that burst of light before.

"They're mirroring each other," Rogue pointed out. Sting calmed down slightly and started watching the attacks. He noticed that the movements of the darts headed for Rogue were indeed mirroring the movements of the darts heading for him.

"Opposites, huh? You mean opposite directions," Sting snorted to Aikido, temporarily forgetting his annoyance.

Aikido hadn't expected them to pick up on the trick so quickly, most people were dead long before they could figure out exactly what was happening to them. The ones that did figure it out were usually on the verge of death and had finally stopped randomly dodging to finally notice the movement of the darts.

The fact that not only had these two been dodging or destroying most of the darts headed their way, but had simultaneously figured out the reflective movements of the darts not only surprised him, but worried him, not that he let his face show it. In fact, he showed the opposite, he showed pride and knowledge upon his face.

"Very good, I'm impressed you were able to discover it so quickly while still dodging it. It seems I have finally met a worthy adversary," he said, smiling, _'It might have to do with the fact that there's two of them.'_

This time two large white bullets came from the forest, and, like the darts before them, began splitting and attacking the two mages. Darts and bullets, another set of opposites.

"Damn it, I've had enough of this!" Sting roared out. Bringing the palms of his hands together, he started forming a small ball of white light.

Aikido sensed an attack and quickly jumped out of the field of the attack.

"Holy Ray!" Sting yelled, and white lights flooded from his hands, taking out the majority of the projectiles near him.

Rogue quickly followed suit, being quite bored of dodging the annoying assaults that had no end. He wanted to get to a real fight with the man in front of them and continue on their journey back to the ship, so they could get their things and leave, plus Frosh was there. Yes that's what he wanted, he assured himself; it's not that he actually cared about any of the people in their crazy crew, he only wanted Frosh and to get out of this god forsaken Skypeia.

"Shadow Dragon's Waxwing Flash!" he yelled out, allowing the shadows to leave his body and encompass the oncoming darts and bullets, which he assumed were made of clouds by the looks of them. The shadows made quick work of the remaining white nuisances that Sting hadn't gotten with his attack.

Aikido watched on in surprise and slight horror. Not only had he never seen anything like this, and they had managed to take out every last one of the darts and bullets, but they were opposites! That was supposed to be his thing, his quirk, but these two, with their opposite elements and looks, were stepping into his territory.

He came back into the fight facing off with them, "It seems you boys have come to play. No more of these small attacks, why don't we get the real fight started?"

He had to admit, it had been a while since he had actually had to fight anybody face to face, so he hoped his abilities weren't too rusty.

He watched as the blonde one encompassed his fist in white light, while the black haired one encompassed his fists in shadows. They came at him with surprising speed and he was taken aback when he saw that they were actually mirroring each other's movements, like his attacks had been.

_'Three can play this game,'_ he thought, smirking, once the initial shock had worn off.

As they reached him, he mirrored their footsteps himself, dodging out of the way of each of their attacks. The two opposite him were throwing punches and kicks, which he easily dodged using his mantra. Although the dark haired man's face stayed stoic and uninterested, the blonde's face began to morph into annoyance and rage.

_'Even their temperaments are opposite, how interesting,'_ Aikido thought as he watched the anger blossom on the blonde's face.

Sting was getting beyond annoyed at the man in front of them. Not only was he dodging their attacks, but he was mirroring their damn footwork. He wasn't sure how the man was doing it, but he knew that this little bug was predicting their movements.

He looked to Rogue, who nodded back to him, and they both flipped over and away from the man in front of them. He did the same thing, which caused a small tick to appear upon Sting's head, but he ignored his annoyance in favor of the attack he and Rogue were about to do.

_'He may be able to predict, but it doesn't mean he can dodge. At this point a long ranged attack will work best,'_ thought Rogue as he considered his options. With a look from Sting, he knew that his partner had the same idea.

Aikido watched in curiosity as his mantra had gone silent. He narrowed his eyes when the two through their arms behind them, forming a ball of black and a ball of white. The balls grew bigger and bigger until they disappeared altogether.

_'What was that supposed to be? Was that supposed to scare me?'_ he thought comically.

That's when they brought their hands together, two small balls in their palms, until a third one appeared, the black and white twirling around each other, growing larger until it encompassed the two small balls in their palms. They punched their arms forward, the ball following it, and exploding out towards him, together yelling, "Holy Shadow Dragon's Flash Fang!"

The attack hadn't been anywhere near him before, and it had moved so slowly, he thought he would have enough time to dodge when it finally came in his direction. Obviously he was wrong, because, even though he moved as soon as the attack became centered on him, the speed at which the white and black mass came towards him must have been faster than light, and the area in which the attack came was too large for him to be able to escape before it landed on him.

"Crap," he whispered as it hit its mark. He felt pain immediately, more than he ever remembered feeling, and then it all went black as he fell unconscious, or maybe he died, he didn't know before the blackness encompassed him.

Sting and Rogue smirked. It had worked like a charm. Not once had anyone been able to stop or dodge that attack, aside from Natsu, but this guy was nowhere near Natsu's level. He had been annoying as hell to fight, but he wasn't a strong fighter, just a strong dodger.

The looked towards the stream and went back to their task of finding the boat so they could return to their crew mates.

~.~.~

Lucy and Gray were running next to the stream. Okay, well on top of it, as Gray had frozen over the top of it so they could run along it without being attacked by crazy sky fish. They had chosen the Ordeal of Beasts, but they weren't really sure what exactly to expect.

Suddenly, a large white, what they assumed to be a lion, launched out of the brush and straight towards them. They stopped abruptly, Gray creating an Ice Shield to block the attack. The lion ran straight into it, but couldn't break through it. The impact should have knocked it unconscious, however, it only backed up before it changed shape into a small block.

Lucy realized what it was and whispered to Gray, "It's made of cloud, that's so interesting... These clouds up here are so weird."

Gray nodded, figuring as much when it had stayed conscious after ramming into his shield and then transforming into a block.

A clap resounded from within the forest as a small man appeared, flanked by several cloud animals, from a bear, to a wolf, to a jaguar.

"So, you figured out that the lion was a cloud, and you were actually able to sense it and block it before it could hit you. Quite impressive. I can tell that you'll be worthy adversaries. I am Koan, and this is the Ordeal of Beasts," the small man said.

The animals at his sides all attacked, coming from three directions, too wide and differed for Gray to be able to block them with a shield.

"Open Gate of the Prince of Gluttony: Beelzebub!" When he appeared, he used his wings to send a harsh current of wind towards the cloud animals, blowing them away from them. They were able to reform a little ways away, but waited for Koan's instructions, who was rethinking his strategy.

He had assumed that it would be the two of them, and that the black haired man had ice abilities, however he got them, but didn't think the girl had abilities. Obviously she did, even if he didn't understand them, he could tell each of those keys equated a different fighter, and that did not put the odds in his favor. The man with the wings had some sort of wind ability, which would put a dent in his carefully thought out ordeal, given clouds were useless against air, easily being blown away by it.

In the midst of his thinking, Gray had made his Cold Excalibur and had almost succeeded in landing a very large and very strong hit on the small man. However, at the last second, Koan had sensed the oncoming attack and had been able to dodge it. He continued his attack Koan, but the smaller man continued dodging, causing Gray to become more and more frustrated, sending wider slashes with more force, but still unable to hit him, he backed away, letting the sword disperse into nothingness.

"Well that sucks, didn't think he'd be so nimble," Gray thought, taking in Koan's appearance. Wooden sandals adorned his feet, a simple brown robe covering his plump, short body, and he was completely bald.

"I heard that!" he yelled out, a tick appeared on Koan's head.

Beelzebub started to send wind attacks towards the man, "Fallen Angel's Wings!"

He flapped his wings once, filled with force and power, and two wings made out of wind flew straight towards the man, the light blue currents cutting through the trees behind him as Koan dodged out of the way.

Lucy then called out Capricorn, thinking the fast fighting spirit might be able to land a few blows on the man, while Gray turned to talk with Lucy. Capricorn, though unable to actually land any hits, succeeded in distracting Koan while Lucy and Gray discussed how to take down the man.

"I don't know how, but he's either crazy fast or he's perceptive enough to tell where our attacks are coming from, and with his physique, I'm betting on perceptive," said Gray.

Lucy nodded, "I think we should go for a long range attack that covers a lot of area. It would be best if we could stop him from moving though, because otherwise, he can just dodge it before it hits him."

Suddenly coming back to life, the cloud animals rose to action, two heading for Capricorn and Koan, preparing to take Capricorn down, while two went straight for Gray and Lucy, flanked by Beelzebub, who scoffed at the lion approaching them, sending a large current in the direction of the approaching cloud.

Capricorn was fighting off the wolf and the jaguar that had come to him, but his punches were just absorbed by the bouncy cloud that made up the animals. He realized they could harden while dealing blows, and soften while receiving them. Beelzebub went to join Capricorn, sending them away from him with his current.

Gray made quick work of the bear approaching him, freezing the cloud so as to prevent it from coming back. He then went to the three blocks that had formed because of Beelzebub's currents and quickly froze them too, returning his attention to Koan.

"That's it!" Lucy squealed, looking at the blocks of ice.

Gray's eyes lit up in understanding and he yelled, "Ice Make: Gungnir!"

Koan had anticipated an attack and jumped to the side, but, unfortunately for Koan, the giant icy lance coming from the ground was too fast forming and large for him to escape, and the ice encompassed his body, forming a giant spear in the air, with Koan sitting frozen within the tip of it.

_'I had no idea there was a devil fruit that could make it possible for people to simply form ice, and the speed, even knowing it was coming, I still couldn't dodge it,'_ Koan said.

Lucy looked to Semyaza, saying, "Now finish him off!"

Beelzebub smirked at Lucy, "Anything for you, My Goddess."

He slowly walked backwards, away from the frozen lance jutting from the ground, and, signaling for Lucy and Gray to step out of the way, pushed off into the air. He made the motion of a roundoff kick in the air, flipping over as a large, black, circular current formed from the motion, heading straight towards Koan, as he yelled, "Black Halo's Current."

Gray, who had originally intended to let Semyaza deal the final blow, saw an opportunity he couldn't pass up. Setting up in his Ice Make stance he said, "Ice Make Unlimited: One Sided Chaotic Dance", and, after forming the icy swords around him, sent them into the whirlwind, where they caught the speed, force, and rotation of the current, and together, the swords and wind collided with the Ice Lance, where Koan was watching the display fearfully.

As Koan watched the man with wings begin his current, he already knew he was doomed. He was terrified, and he couldn't move. He knew that it was going to be a powerful attack, and he knew he would lose this battle, quite possibly blacking out for several days, but when the ice user added several swords into the current, he began fearing the worst. He wouldn't be surprised if he died after this attack. For him, the worst part was that he couldn't move, and he couldn't stop it, even though he knew it was coming.

They watched as the ice around Koan shattered, and the man was hit with the force of the attack, falling to the ground with a loud crash, leaving a small dent in the dirt. Gray and Lucy didn't really feel bad about it, after all, this man was one of the people trying to use their friends as human sacrifices.

Lucy thanked Beelzebub, who hugged her, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist, and her arms wrapped around his neck, before he returned to the spirit world, a smirk firmly planted on his face. He knew the other Princes, even the ones not yet contracted, would be completely jealous he was able to fight with her in battle, and he was looking forward to rubbing it in.

Gray and Lucy looked towards the limp body of Koan, as well as the frozen blocks of ice containing the clouds that had once been animals, and walked away back to the stream.

"That wasn't all that bad," Gray said to Lucy, wrapping his arm around her shoulder as they walked.

"Yea, I know what you mean. At first, I was worried about the others, but now, I know they'll be fine. They're all strong," Lucy answered, smiling, wrapping her arm around her brother.

~.~.~

"Well this sucks," Gajeel grumbled once the Going Merry had finally stopped moving, landing on a stone slab in the middle of a lake.

"No shit, Metal Head," Natsu yelled from the other side of the deck.

"Shut up Flame Brain!" Gajeel yelled back, walking, well, more accurately 'stomping', over to the pinkette, who had stood up and was approaching his fellow dragon slayer.

"Shut up, brats. Must you always fight?" Makarov said, raising his hands and enlarging them so he could hit both dragon slayers over the back of the head. He didn't like being separated from his nakama any more than they already did.

Natsu and Gajeel continued to glare at each other, grumbling, but did nothing more and proceeded to go back to their respective places on opposite ends of the deck.

Robin stood up from where she had been sitting, "Well, I want to go exploring. Does anybody want to join me?" she asked, smiling at her eccentric crew mates.

Laxus, Gajeel, Natsu, and Zoro volunteered to go, wanting to get off of the stationary boat. Nami was convinced to accompany the group, enticed by the possibility of gold on the so-called 'holy island'.

Chopper opted to stay and watch the boat, joined by Makarov, Mira, and the Exceeds. The three had been tasked with repairing the broken mast, to which they happily obliged to do whatever they could. Mira, however, was looking at the ship sadly._ 'She's too small for all of us. We're cramped for space, not to mention the condition she's in. I hate to say it, but I think we may need to get a new ship when we return to the blue sea if we intend to continue on our journey.'_

Makarov looked at Mira, noticing the look on her face, and smiled sadly at her. He knew the same as she did; it wouldn't be safe to continue in this ship after all of the damage she'd undergone, but they both knew to wait until later to bring up the issue.

While they were busy trying to fix the mast as best they could for the time being, a man riding some sort of bird came to them, attacking the three members. Chopper immediately blew the whistle given to the crew by the Sky Knight earlier, and then tried to engage the man in battle.

Ganfall eventually made his way to the fight, joining in, while Makarov and Mira decided to stay out of the fight for the time being, given Mira's reluctance to fight in most situations and her trust in Chopper's abilities, while Makarov decided to allow his children to fight before stepping in. However, when Chopper and Ganfall were failing at taking down the priest, covered in wounds, Makarov stood up, "Mira, take care of them. I will take care of this pest."

Stepping off of the steps and descending the stairs, he began glowing, his size growing with each step he took towards the so-called priest. When he had reached his full titan size, he opened his mouth in order to offer his opponent one last chance to retreat, as he always did. However, Shura was already on his way back into the heart of the forest before he could even begin.

"We'll meet again," Shura yelled over his shoulder as he left. He thought about the little old man on his ride back to God. To think that the smallest man he had ever met was hiding such power. He could physically feel the power coming from him, forming in the air around him.

_'It would be better for God to take him on,'_ he thought to himself. He doubted that, even if able to predict the oncoming attack, he would be able to block it. His size and power would overshadow the advantage of mantra. He had a job to do for God tomorrow, and he could not fall here. Also, he did not have his ordeal set up in the area, therefore, he was at a disadvantage. So, whether because of fear or logic, he retreated.

Makarov returned to his regular stature, walking back up the steps to the ship, where Ganfall and Chopper were laying injured and bandaged.

Chopper looked at him with stars in his eyes, "Thank you, Makarov! That was so cool! I had no idea you could get that big. I thought your ability was like Luffy's, but it's not. It's so cool!"

Makarov smiled softly down at the reindeer, "Thank you, my boy. Hopefully, though, I will not have to use it often. It takes a lot of energy out of this old man," he winked as he finished.

Mira smiled at her two patients, "We'll have Wendy go ahead and take a look at you when she gets back. She should be able to heal the worst of it."

Chopper smiled, while Ganfall finally spoke up, facing Makarov, "What kind of ability was that? Surely you've eaten a devil fruit?"

"No, Ganfall, it was magic," Makarov's eyes twinkled as he said it, while Ganfall was unsure how to take the information. Instead of prying further, however, he opted to stay silent for the time being.

~.~.~

The others were happily walking through the forest, although, so far, they weren't seeing anything too interesting.

However, Robin had pointed out something shocking. They were standing on dirt, something they hadn't fully realized before. Instead of the spongy clouds the other islands used as the ground, this island had dirt on it.

_'That's strange…'_ she thought to herself, _'I wonder…'_

Nami was climbing in the trees and looking at the island layout, when she realized something, using Robin's revelation and some logic, she said, "This is the part of Jaya that had disappeared."

The comment was enough to drag the men out of the fight they had been in the middle of.

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked.

"When Noland the Liar returned to where he had seen the City of Gold, it had disappeared. Montblanc Cricket believed that the City of Gold had sunken to the bottom of the ocean, but I don't think that's the case. I think that part of Jaya was carried on the Knock-Up Stream and ended up here," she explained, and then her eyes lit up, "So that means that there is a city made of gold on this island? Now we have to stay and take the gold!"

Robin giggled at Nami's behavior, Zoro, Laxus and Gajeel scoffing, while Natsu didn't seem to understand what was happening and just shrugged.

Suddenly, the dragon slayers lifted their heads.

Laxus said, "We should get back," turning in the direction of the ship. "Light bulb and Gloom are back."

They turned around, heading back in the direction of the Going Merry, where, sure enough, Sting and Rogue were back, sitting on the deck of the ship.

Zoro looked at the wounded reindeer and man lying on the ship, as well as the extensive damage to the ship itself, and exclaimed, "What the hell happened here?!"

"There was a fight, isn't it obvious?" Gajeel said, although, he, too, seemed slightly angry.

"You knew there was a fight and you didn't say anything?!" Zoro yelled at him.

"Why would I?! I knew they could handle it!" Gajeel yelled back at the green haired swordsman.

"Look at them! They're in horrible shape!" Zoro yelled back. At this point, Laxus stepped between the two hot heads that were fighting.

"Ok, there's no way we could have known how bad the fight had gotten. We didn't say anything because we trusted them to handle it on their own. If they had needed our help, they would have called, they knew we'd be able to hear them. They also could have sent one of the Exceeds if they needed help. Also, if you can't tell, we're pissed at the bastard too. We can get revenge later, but right now, everyone just needs to calm down," Laxus said, glaring at both men.

Makarov smiled at his grandson. He had matured so much since the Fantasia incident, and especially since coming to this world. It was an unfortunate event, but he had managed to gain something good from it. He had begun to play the part of the peacemaker and stepped in between the fights of his crew mates. It wouldn't be too much longer before he would be capable of becoming guild master, if they ever found their way back to Earthland, that is.

Zoro and Gajeel calmed themselves before looking to Sting and Rogue, who had been quietly watching. Taking it as a cue to start talking, Sting explained how their group had split up to take on the various ordeals.

As he finished his explanation, Erza came running out of the forest behind them, followed shortly by Lucy and Gray, then Wendy and Cobra, and finally Sanji, Usopp and Luffy. They each shared the stories of their ordeals.

"So you've joined the two elements club, huh Wendy?" Gajeel grinned down at Wendy. She blushed and nodded, hugging Carla, before running over to heal Chopper and Ganfall of their worst wounds.

"Two elements club?" Robin asked, intrigued.

"When a Dragon Slayer eats the element from another dragon slayer, sometimes we're able to absorb it and become a dual-dragon slayer," Gajeel said, "Flame Brain ate Lightning Rod's lightning, and now he can use Lightning Fire dragon slayer magic, I ate Ryos's shadows, and now I have Shadow Iron Dragon Slayer magic, and now Wendy has Poison Sky Dragon Slayer magic. We can't use just the element by itself, like I can't just use Shadow Dragon Slayer magic, but we can combine the two elements to double the power of an attack."

"Interesting, here, nobody can eat two devil fruits. According to legend, the demons inside with destroy each other and kill whoever tries, but you guys can fuse magic," Robin said.

"Well, there's also Unison Raids, which is what Lucy and I did," Gray said, "If magic is compatible, and if the mages know how each other's magic works, then you can combine two magic forms to create a single, powerful attack. Lucy can use a lot of different Unison Raids using her spirits, but Unison Raids between different mages are actually slightly rare. The only reason that we're able to is because of how close we are, and, in the Dragon Slayers' case, their similar abilities."

"I see," Robin said, examining each of the Earthlanders as Wendy went to look over Ganfall and Chopper.

While Wendy was tending to the wounded, Robin explained her theory of the origins of Upper Yard, to which Ganfall confirmed. He explained that the reason Upper Yard was considered holy was because of the Vearth, or dirt, that was on the ground, allowing for food to be grown.

The group eventually decided to make their way to an open clearing nearby for the night. They ate, drank and made merry in a party that even Fairy Tail's drunkest mages, aka Cana, would have been proud of, especially after the huge wolves of the island came and joined them, which was a surprising feat, according to Ganfall.

~.~.~

In another area of Upper Yard, God was preparing for the next day, in a sense.

"So the Shandians and the Blue Sea people both plan on invading Upper Yard tomorrow, although for different purposes. It will be a three way war of Survival of the Fittest," he grinned widely, his long ear lobes swinging as he smiled at his three remaining priests.

Shura said, "I think the Blue Sea Dwellers will be difficult. One of the men today grew exceptionally tall in front of my eyes. He must have eaten of the Devil Fruits."

"It is no matter. If he survives, he shall be allowed to join me on my blessed journey to the land of Endless Vearth. If he falls, then it is God's will," Eneru said smugly. He had no doubt that none would be capable of defeating him.

The priests looked at their God. Ohm spoke up, "We will be allowed to fight, correct?"

Eneru nodded, "You shall be my purgatory. Those who survive the day shall join me. Those who die will receive no Heaven. Tell me, how many do you think will survive?"

They started naming their expected numbers at his urging, but Eneru just laughed at them.

"You have much too high of expectations for these people. Yes, they may have defeated the other priests, but they must now fight each other. At the end, there will be less than 10 left for the journey."

~.~.~

Wiper sat at his tent, "Tomorrow, we will attack again. We must defeat the priests, the Blue Sea people, and finally the fake God who has claimed our land as his. So prepare yourselves, sharpen your weapons, and be ready to fight. We will lose friends. So, if you are not prepared to die for this, leave now."

When no one stood up to leave, he smiled, finishing, "We will take our ancestors' land back from those who stole it from us!"

The Shandians cheered loudly, ready to right the wrongs committed against them hundreds of years ago.

~.~.~

The next day, everyone woke up, preparing for their missions. For the Shandians, it was to reclaim their land. For the Straw Hats, it was to find the City of Gold. For the priests, it was to take out as many opponents as possible. For Eneru, it was to decide who would join him on his journey to the land of Endless Vearth. And thus, the Survival Game began.

While, Sanji, Usopp, Nami, Mira, Makarov, Laxus, and the Exceeds stayed on the ship to both guide it to the shore next to the location of the City of Gold and to watch over the still slightly injured Ganfall, Robin had taken the rest to where she believed to be the City of Gold by foot.

However, things didn't go as planned when a giant snake approached and forced the group to split up.

Robin and Lucy were walking through the forest. They had managed to stay together in the commotion and were headed towards the City of Gold.

"I hope Zoro doesn't get lost again," Robin said.

"Zoro not getting lost would be a miracle. We just need to hope that someone stuck with him after that snake showed up," Lucy said, while Robin giggled at her crewmate's lack of direction.

~.~.~

Luffy, Cobra, Sting, Rogue, Natsu, and Gajeel were walking along the forest, in what they thought was south, when they came across Wiper and a few other Shandian warriors. They immediately began fighting amongst themselves, with Luffy facing off against Wiper, when the giant snake from before appeared again, disrupting the fight.

Then, the Straw Hats were gone.

Stuck in the belly of a beast, though they didn't know that, were Straw Hats.

"Wow, this is a really dark cave," Luffy said, grinning as he dusted himself off.

"It smells disgusting," Gajeel said, putting his hand over his nose to cover the smell. The other Dragon Slayers nodded, trying to identify the smell.

Natsu lit his fist on fire, saying, "Well, whatever, it doesn't matter. Let's get out of here so we can find that snake and fight it!"

"I wanna eat it!" Luffy yelled before running down the 'tunnel' followed closely by Natsu and Sting, who were followed by Gajeel, Sting, and Cobra.

_'I can't believe these idiots dragged me into this,'_ Rogue thought as he ran with the others.

~.~.~

Zoro was running with Erza and Gray, who were yelling at him to stop.

"What, you guys can't keep up?" he said as he stopped.

Gray hit him over the head before responding, "We can keep up fine, but you're going in the wrong direction."

Zoro scoffed at him, "No, I'm not. You guys are just confused because the snake turned us around, now come on, let's go."

Erza clamped her hand on her fellow swordsman's shoulder. "Does it look like a giant snake would confuse me, Zoro?"

Her aura was growing and Zoro mentally weighed his options before relenting, "Then you show the way. But if you take us to the wrong place, I'm blaming you guys."

"Good choice," she said, releasing his shoulder before turning in the direction of the City of Gold, studiously ignoring Zoro's irritated grumbling, instead choosing to think about the delicious cake Sanji had made for her the night before and wondering if there was any left. Gray just snickered at Zoro, knowing just how he must feel, but finding it funny to see the swordsman under Erza's wrath rather than him.

~.~.~

Wendy hugged Chopper to her chest as she looked around.

"Wow, that was a big snake," she said, setting him back down on the ground.

"Yea, but everyone's probably fine. We should just make our way to the City of Gold, they'll probably all meet us there," Chopper said as he started towards the supposed location of the City.

"Do you really think everyone's gonna be okay?" Wendy asked, worry evident in her voice.

"Of course, they're all really strong; we have nothing to worry about," he said with determination.

Wendy's worry dissipated, "You're right, thanks," she smiled to him.

~.~.~

On the ship, Nami was relaxing next to Ganfall, who was sitting against the railing of the ship. Sanji was inside making a drink for the girls, Usopp sat inside tinkering around, Mira was talking to Makarov on the deck, and Laxus sat with his headphones over his ears and his eyes closed.

Suddenly, Laxus stood up, pushing his headphones down around his neck.

A man was sitting on top of the ship, watching them. He was blonde, with a white bandana tied around his head. He was shirtless, and his earlobes, with golden earrings through them, reached down to his waist. His baggy pants were his only clothing, and he had a weird metal circle attached to his back, with several circular pads on them.

"I'm assuming you're 'God'", Laxus drawled, looking at him disinterestedly.

"That would be me," the man smirked at him, "My name is Eneru."

Sanji and Usopp immediately ran to him, planning on attacking, but Eneru expected it and sent a bolt of lightning straight at them, as well as one at Laxus. Unfortunately, Usopp and Sanji were fried to a crisp, and Mira immediately went to them to start giving them medical care.

However, Laxus felt it coming and changed into his lightning form just as the bolt hit, absorbing it into himself. It was so fast that Eneru didn't actually know what happened, just that Laxus was able to block and stop his attack.

"You're slow," Laxus said, smirking at Eneru.

"Slow? I am Living Lightning," the man answered him, "I am far superior to you, Blue Sea dwellers."

"Well, if you're so superior, how could I have sensed you and stopped you?" Laxus asked, smirking as Eneru's cocky smile faltered for a second.

Eneru regained his composure before saying, "Do you dare to question God? I decided to give you a chance to defend yourself. I'm surprised you were able to block it, how is it that you were able to stop my attack?"

"Well, _God_," he said the word with mirth dancing in his eyes and sarcasm dripping from his voice, "_I'm_ Living Lightning."

As he said this, lightning began to spark throughout the room and around Laxus's huge body. Eneru kept his face a mask of his usual cocky attitude, but on the inside he didn't know how to react.

He heard a commotion outside and grinned, "Well, it's no matter what your opinion is. You will be busy in a few moments. One of my priests you killed yesterday has a few brothers that want revenge. I'll leave you to them."

"Laxus, we'll take care of them. Go after him, it'll be no problem," Nami said, approaching the men, sizing them up, and deciding they would be easy to take out.

"Take care of Sanji and Usopp, they should survive, the bolt wasn't that strong," Laxus said, before taking off after Eneru in his Lightning Body form. It wasn't too difficult to follow the trail Eneru left, all he had to do was follow the lightning.

He came upon a cluster of unconscious bodies, a few of them twitching as the lightning continued to travel through their bodies. He growled before speeding himself up, following the path of electrified air.

~.~.~

Zoro, Erza, and Gray had been attacked by a group of Shandian warriors. Zoro was struggling a bit with his man. His ability to move around at will because of his stupid shoes was annoying to say the least.

Erza and Gray were fighting their opponents as well, struggling with the same thing. Luckily Gray was able to just freeze over the dial on his opponent's shoes, making him incapable of jumping around, and was able to defeat him. Erza used her Black Wing armor to keep up with her opponent in the air and was able to take him out, as well.

When the two had finished, they had turned their attention to Zoro, waiting for him to complete his battle.

"It seems your friends don't want to help you. Don't you have any loyalty on the Blue Sea?" he taunted Zoro as their fight continued.

"Yea, we do. But we also have trust, and they're not joining in because they know I can beat you," Zoro growled out.

The battle continued on for a few more minutes, and then Zoro was able to let out his last blow, a new technique he had been practicing that he thought would be perfect in this environment. When he had finished, he turned, smirking at his companions.

"That was quite impressive," Erza said, acknowledging the powerful attack.

"Thank you, I think I've perfected this new technique. One of the draw backs of swordplay is that it must be carried out at close range, now though, I'll be able to use this technique for long range battles as well," Zoro said.

"Well come on, guys, we have a City of Gold to find," Gray smirked.

~.~.~

Chopper and Wendy had stumbled upon one of the priests, along with a group of weird horned creatures.

"You take care of the weird goat things, and I'll take care of this guy," Chopper told Wendy, turning towards his opponent.

"Okay," Wendy said, sucking in some air, before she started her attacks, determined to win.

Wendy was fighting well, sending attack after attack at her opponents, but for every one she took down, it was like two more showed up, and she was starting to lose energy. Not to mention, using the dual poison and sky dragon attacks used more energy than her normal sky dragon attacks. She was struggling with adjusting to her new powers and the seemingly unending sea of opponents.

Chopper was also fighting well, fighting his extremely stupid opponent. It took him a little time, but Chopper succeeded in defeating the priest.

Wendy heard Chopper defeat the priest, and she turned towards the dozen opponents she had left, using one final Poison Sky Dragon's Roar, she finished them off before returning to Chopper.

"Good job, Wendy," Chopper said, smiling at the blue haired girl.

She beamed at him, "Thank you Chopper, you did really good too!"

They continued on their journey, but were soon faced with another one of the priests.

"Two blue sea people, I see," he said, approaching them.

~.~.~

When Zoro, Erza, and Gray reached a series of rocks, which were near where they were supposed to meet, they found an unconscious Chopper and Wendy lying on the ground.

"Wendy! Chopper!" the three yelled in unison at their comrades. They stood up and glared at the man approaching them.

His face was neutral as he said, "It was God's will that they should fall. You will know the feeling soon as well."

Zoro's face darkened, "Like I care about 'God's will.'"

Erza's hair fell over her eyes as she looked at the man, "You will regret hurting our friends. I can promise you that."

Then, a man appeared, his purple red hair back in a thick ponytail. They recognized him as the man that had attacked them on their first day in Skypiea.

He was followed by a large group of Eneru's workers and followers. Zoro turned to face Erza and Gray, "You go take care of them. I'll take care of this guy."

Gray nodded, "You got it. Go all out."

He then ran to fight some of "God's" workers, followed by Erza, who yelled over her shoulder darkly, "Get our revenge."

As they were all fighting, the Shandian warrior yelled out, "Laki!"

The entire battle halted as a woman with long black hair had come running towards the barbed cloud barrier the priest had put up.

"Wiper, we can't beat him, he's too strong," she said, falling to the ground weakly.

A bolt of lightning came from the forest, and they were faced with God, who was smirking evilly at the girl, intending on ending her life. However, right when his lightning bolt was about to crash down on her, another bolt of lightning appeared, and then Laxus was in front of her, drawing the lightning to him and eating it.

"Are you okay?" he asked, facing the woman. She nodded her head weakly in response. When Laxus turned to look for Eneru, though, he was gone.

"What the hell?" Wiper asked, incredulous. He saw that Laki had passed out, but was otherwise fine, thanks to the blonde man.

Erza ran up to the barrier, "Laxus?! What about Nami and the others on the ship?"

"Some bastard that calls himself God came and attacked us, then ran off so I chased after him. He has lightning abilities, so I figured for now, I'd be the best person to go after him, and Luffy will probably be able to beat him later, considering he's made of rubber. " he answered, "I'll be able to hold him off for a while, and decrease the death count, but I don't think I'll be able to actually beat him. Lightning against lightning isn't going to end quickly."

"I see… Well, we'll deal with him later," Erza said as she turned around bring her sword up to slash the man that had snuck up behind her to attack.

"Did you really think you could sneak up on me?" she asked his mostly unconscious form.

They were once again interrupted, however, when the giant snake from before came back, as well as Nami with a little girl, Ganfall, and his weird bird, which were soon swallowed by the snake, that didn't look at all happy.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Zoro yelled, "WE HAVE TO GET THEM OUT OF THERE!"

Wiper felt the same sentiment, as one of his own had been swallowed as well. He quickly went to try to take out the beast. Zoro tried to join him, but was stopped by the priest, so he decided to fight him and leave the snake to Erza, Laxus, and Gray.

Zoro was able to defeat the priest, using his new technique and joined the others in battling the snake, when large pieces of Earth started falling from the sky and they all fell downwards through the clouds. Nami and Ganfall flew out of the snake's mouth as it crashed down, but the others were still trapped inside, much to their annoyance.

When they looked up, they were face to face with God, as well as Lucy and Robin.

"Look who's decided to join us," Eneru said smugly to the two women, "I suppose you all are welcome to join me on my search for the Land of Endless Vearth. Rejoice, for you have been chosen by God."

Laxus growled at him, "No thank you, you sorry excuse for a lightning user."

"Well, it's too bad that you don't want to come," Eneru said, before Wiper jumped up to him, his palm colliding with Eneru's chest as Wiper said, "Too bad for you."

An explosion shot from his concealed Reject Dial, and Eneru's limp body fell to the ground, lifeless, and Wiper thought it was over when spark ran down Eneru's body, jolting his form back to life.

"He used his lightning to jump start his heart, it's actually pretty smart, although unfortunate for us," Robin said, watching with the others as Eneru's face remained bored.

"Really, now, you're going to do more damage to yourself than to me if you keep using that Reject Dial," Eneru said, smirking.

He sent bolts of lightning to each of the people in front of him, his intent to kill.

Laxus blocked the attack easily, absorbing the lightning, saving both himself and Nami, who was hiding behind him. Erza, however, was drained after the last few days and was unable to requip into her Lightning Empress Armor. She fell unconscious, along with the rest, who were unable to handle the attack, even though it was weakened, but at least they weren't dead.

Lucy had been saved by someone else, someone who hadn't been there before, an annoyed Eneru noted. The man had long golden hair that went down to his waist, and his eyes were the same shade. His body was muscular, with a golden tan gracing his skin. He was shirtless, wearing only a pair of khaki pants, and two leather straps that crisscrossed on his chest. He had golden gauntlets that reached his elbows. He had giant gold wings on his back. In his right hand, he held a brilliant blade, the hilt of which was pure gold, with peridot gemstones scattered throughout it. In his left ear was peridot gem stud. He spoke out, "I am Lucifer, the Prince of Pride."

Lucy was in his arms and the man, Lucifer, was hovering in the air, having flown her there to get away from the bolt. When Eneru went to send another bolt towards her, Laxus stepped in the way.

"Lucy, Nami, stay here and take care of them, I'm going to distract him, if you see Luffy or the others, tell them to find me," Laxus said.

"Okay!" Lucy said, while Nami nodded, and then Laxus began fighting with Eneru, following him to his ship.

~.~.~

"We're finally free!" Luffy yelled when they had finally managed to free themselves from the belly of the snake.

"Yea, yea, now hurry up, I got a scent," Gajeel said, running in the direction of their comrades. "And I smell blood."

Laxus was at a stalemate with Eneru when Luffy arrived. Attacks weren't landing, and the ones that were landing were either deflected or didn't leave much of an impression. Luffy took over the fight for him, and Laxus went back to the site of their fallen comrades in the fabled City of Gold.

When he arrived, they found Gajeel, Natsu, Sting, and Rogue, who were checking to see that their friends were alive, which thankfully they were. Those that could listened to the ongoing fight between Eneru and Luffy.

"He's after the bell," Robin said to them. "I'm guessing that the golden bell that Noland wrote about is at the top of the beanstalk somewhere."

They listened as Luffy appeared to have lost the battle and watched in horror as Eneru began preparing for the next phase of his plan. Sanji and Usopp joined them and then questioned, "What are you guys doing?! Shouldn't we be trying to stop him?!"

"Luffy's on his way, though he may need your help Nami," Gajeel said.

Sure enough, Luffy came, needing Nami's help to get up the beanstalk on the waver. When they got as high as they could, she realized that they needed to chop down Giant Jack to propel Luffy the rest of the way up.

The most unhurt of the group went to work chopping down Giant Jack, which came down with the final blow from the giant snake who had swallowed the dragon slayers and Luffy. It was truly incredible to watch as the bell came to the ground and Eneru went flying, securing Luffy's victory as they heard the bell chime.

Even Wiper was blown away by the sound, now that Robin had told him who would be listening for it on the Blue Sea.


	6. Arrival to Water 7

**Chapter 6: Arrival to Water 7**

The Straw Hat crew partied all night with the Shandians and Ganfall, who were all feeling much better, thanks to some help from Wendy, Chopper, and Mira.

However the Straw Hat crew was looking forward to heading home to the Blue Sea, after venturing back into the belly of the beast, or the snake in this case, to steal some of the gold lying there, of course. Nami was the primary person pushing the extraction of gold, but the entire crew was on board with the plan.

While they were doing that, Lucy was contracted the newest Prince to come to her, Lucifer, the leader of the Seven Princes.

"Hello, Lucifer, it's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Lucy Heartfilia. Thank you for helping me the other day," Lucy smiled at him.

"Goddess, as you know, my name is Lucifer, and I am the Prince of Pride, and my element is light. In hand to hand combat, I favor my sword," he said, smirking at her.

"It figures that you would come out when facing someone claiming to be God," Lucy laughed.

"Yes, I couldn't think of a more fitting time to come to you," he said. "As for what you need to know about me, I'm protective, just like the others, and I will always save you when you're in danger, if I can, which is, of course, always. However, I expect the same from you," he said.

"Yes, of course," Lucy smiled at him.

"Well then, I suppose it's time for me to go now," he said, his smirk still in place. He kissed her on the forehead, then looked her in the eyes, his own golden orbs glowing as he disappeared back to the Spirit World.

~.~.~

Robin was most interested in reading what was written on the bell. Most of it was history, along with a message from Gol D. Roger, which was interesting, and when she revealed the implications of what he had written, the Shandians rejoiced that their ancient job was done.

However, the last thing she read made her look twice, wondering if it meant what she thought it did.

Written there, 'The journey through Space is a mystery. All that is known is that those who pass through once are Fated to pass through again. By that time, Home will have a new definition. Beware those who wish to see the Other World, because, just as you are Fated to return, you are Fated to love and live.'

Robin was almost entirely certain the 'Other World' mentioned was Earthland, and she thought she knew what the rest of the message meant. The journey would end, but it would end after the travelers had already created a new home, after they had grown accustomed to the life they had newly created.

She wondered whether or not she should tell the Earthlanders. She knew, as someone who had only known one home and had struggled since she had lost it to find a new one, that home was difficult to grasp.

What would happen if they found out? Would they still stay with them, and treat her as family? She selfishly didn't want to tell them, so they would be with her a little bit longer. On the other hand, she knew that if she had hope of returning to that island, her home, she would want to know, and she would hold it dear, even if there was nothing she could do to stop it or make it happen. She would have to question whether or not she would tell them or not.

~.~.~

The Straw Hats' journey back to the Blue Sea was a rocky one to say the least, and they very nearly died on the journey down, luckily they had safely landed in the ocean and found an island to dock at while the log pose found it's next mark.

Most of the Earthlanders stayed on the ship, but Lucy, Gray, and Natsu went with the Straw Hats to explore the island. They were surprised when they saw a tall man just laying on the beach, quite literally chilling. They became skeptical when they saw his Marine jacket and they're skepticism grew when Robin told them who he was.

He assured them he wasn't there to hurt Robin, and, even though none of them believed him, they were interrupted by a group of people stranded on the island. While the Straw Hats were trying to figure out a way to help them, Aokiji said that he would take care of it.

As Aokiji froze the entirety of the ocean, Gray's eyebrow quirked up in curiosity, wondering just how powerful his ice was. He walked over to some of the ice, discarding his clothes on the way, and reached out to touch some of the ice in front of him.

_'It's cold,'_ he thought, smirking, _'but not as cold as mine.'_

After the civilians had started their trek across the ice, he followed the rest of his crew to where Aokiji was again sitting lazily on the ground.

He listened as Aokiji started talking about Robin, threatening her. His face hardened, and he felt Natsu tense at his side. For once, they were in complete agreement: they didn't like the way he was talking about their nakama. He saw as Robin performed "Clutch" on him, then as he shattered before piecing himself back together.

Natsu smirked, this guy was actually made of ice, like Crocodile was made of sand and Eneru was made of lightning. Ice he could easily deal with, after all, not even Gray's ice could freeze him completely, and Gray's ice was definitely colder than this guy's ice. He didn't even feel the cold when the man had frozen the ocean earlier. If Gray had done that, he would have actually registered the drop in temperature, and the ocean would have stayed frozen for a month, not a week.

Gray's eyebrows shot up as he saw the man shatter and reform. That might make things a little bit more difficult for him, however, he knew he could take the ice, should the man try to use it against him. In the end, a fight between them would become a matter of intellect, rather than a match of strength. Aokiji's size would definitely be an advantage to him, but at the same time, it makes for a larger target. Not to mention that even ice could be frozen should it come into contact with an even colder substance. Also, Gray doubted Aokiji would be able to shatter his ice. From what he could tell, Aokiji was merely freezing the water vapor already present in the air, while his body being able to transform to ice was a side effect of the devil fruit he had undoubtedly eaten. Gray actually created the ice with magic, making for a much stronger substance. Regardless, a fight between the two of them would be interesting, and difficult, to say the least.

Gray was pulled from his analysis of the man's abilities by a flash of blue near Lucy, to see that a new spirit had shown up.

The man had light, powder blue hair, which was short and cropped. His eyes matched the color of his hair. His skin was almost completely white and he had extremely sharp features. He only had on his pale blue pants, and attached to the black holster tied onto his lower body were two guns. One was a pistol, while the other was a rifle. Both were black and decorated in aquamarine gems. In his ear was an Aquamarine stud. "I am Belphegor, the Prince of Sloth."

"Belphegor... you're the last of the Seven Princes... I thought that no Celestial mage had ever contracted all 7 of the Seven Princes," Lucy said, her eyes growing wide. After the appearance of Lucifer, she was almost certain she would never meet the final member.

"There hasn't, but I suppose there's an exception to every rule," he said. "As for my contract, I use ice magic, and I use my guns for anything not requiring magic. I tend to try to end every fight as quickly as possible, because I can't be bothered to spend too much time working at something, however, I'd be willing to sacrifice my time for you, Goddess, so long as you do the same for me."

"Yes, of course, I understand," Lucy said, still in awe of the fact that he had come to her.

With that, he kissed her forehead, then looked into her eyes, his eyes, like the others, glowing as they looked into hers, before he disappeared again.

While all of this was happening, the fight had continued behind Lucy, as they knew that the Admiral should know as little about Lucy's magic as possible. So, their actions were as much to distract Aokiji as they were to prevent him from getting to Aokiji.

Gray looked over to see Zoro's sword blocking what appeared to be a jagged ice sword, nowhere near as complex as Gray's, yet still strong enough to hold back Zoro's swords.

When Sanji went to kick him, Aokiji grabbed onto Zoro's arm and Sanji's leg. The next thing any of them saw were the two on the ground, clutching onto the parts of their body that had been in contact with Aokiji, which had been frozen over.

"Natsu." Gray said, and Natsu's response was a quick nod, "Be careful not to burn them."

Natsu scoffed as he quickly walked over to the three on the ground. Aokiji wasn't paying any attention to them as he approached Robin. Gray cocked his neck to the side, cracking it quickly, _'Guess it's my turn.'_

As Aokiji went to grab Robin with the purpose of freezing her in mind, he felt a hand block his path. He sighed, wondering why, after his display, someone would willingly step in front of him. That's when he realized he was cold,_ 'I never get cold.'_

He looked at the man in front of him, he was shirtless, and wasn't wearing any pants, only black boxers and a silver necklace, with a deep blue symbol tattooed onto his chest. Aokiji didn't recognize him, which meant he most likely didn't have a bounty, so he once again wondered why this man was blocking his path.

He pushed his power forward, attempting to freeze the man in front of him, but found he was unable to.

_'That's just weird,'_ he thought as he stared at the man in front of him. Suddenly, he noticed the frost that the man was emitting, and looking down at his feet, he saw ice beginning to cover the ground.

"Ice Make: Hammer!" the man yelled out, and suddenly Aokiji found himself at the brunt of a giant hammer of ice slamming against his body. He barely managed to shatter himself before the ice came down on him. Reforming himself back together, Aokiji could barely contain his shock.

_'No two devil fruits are supposed to be the same,'_ he thought as he stared at the guy in front of him, who was cockily smirking. At this point, he noticed the steam wafting through the air.

Following the trail of steam, he spotted a pink haired man, who had the same symbol as the other stranger, but in red and on his shoulder, who was touching the ice that he had attached to three other members of the crew. At this point, he couldn't contain his shock, as the pink haired man put his bare hand on the ice, not even flinching at the cold, before the ice started to melt off of them.

_'How is he doing that?'_ Aokiji thought, as he was fairly certain it would take an extreme amount of body heat to melt the ice that quickly, and anyone whose body was that hot should be dead, unless they had eaten a devil fruit.

He noticed the black haired man's attention had turned towards his comrades as well, and decided now would be a good time to attack.

Just as he was going in to attack him, he heard, "Ice Make: Shield!" as a giant ice barrier formed in front of the man and Nico Robin.

Aokiji smirked, intending on shattering the ice, as that was a gift bestowed to him from his devil fruit, but when he touched it, the barrier did not shatter. _'What?! The only way that could be possible, is if this ice is colder than mine.'_

Suddenly, things started to make sense in his head, such as why he couldn't freeze the man, but then he became more confused. No two devil fruits did the same thing, and, while it was obvious that this man's ice was colder and far more intricate than anything Aokiji could do, something he acknowledged when looking at the solid shield in front of him, complete with ornate carvings, they both gave the user control over ice, which shouldn't be possible.

He was still lost in his own mind, trying to figure out what was happening, when he felt it. The hand on his shoulder was hot, although that was putting it mildly. The hand on his shoulder was like an inferno, hotter than Fire Fist Ace, and possibly hotter than Akainu. He felt his own ice body melt under the heat of the hand, and the man hadn't even attacked him.

"Stop. He's mine," said Straw Hat Luffy, "Why don't we fight one on one, man to man?"

The pressure and heat on his shoulder dispersed, and the black haired man nodded, before wrapping an arm around Nico Robin's waist and picking her up, wrapping the other arm under her legs. Before she could protest, Aokiji heard the man say, "Stop fighting, we're trying to help. I'm gonna get you back to the ship."

She nodded, wrapping her arms around the man's neck, and, with one last look at Aokiji, she was gone.

Once everyone had left, Aokiji faced the captain of the crew, "Those are some interesting members; I've never seen anything like it."

"They're not from around here," the boy grinned.

"And those abilities? Tell me what are they?" he asked.

"I don't know," Luffy shrugged, continuing to grin.

"What's the symbol they have tattooed mean?" Aokiji tried again.

"Hmm... that's the symbol of Fairy Tail, I think," Luffy said, again shrugging.

Telling he would get nowhere with the captain, Aokiji began his fight with Luffy.

After the fight was over, he left the frozen captain on the open field, grabbing his jacket and his bike, and leaving the island, heading towards Headquarters. He owed Smoker and the kid's grandfather, and he had to acknowledge that the kid was smart, making it one on one so that he couldn't go after Robin again, at least not here. Besides, he had an important report to file. Originally, he hadn't thought the mission to confirm Nico Robin's whereabouts would be interesting, and he found it to be just that, however, it was also quite disconcerting.

A few days later, when he reached Navy HQ, he went straight to Sengoku's office, grabbing Akainu and Kizaru on his way. When they were all in the office of the Fleet Admiral, Sengoku gave him a wary look, "I take it your mission didn't go as expected."

"You could say that," Aokiji answered, waiting to see he had all three men's attention. "Nico Robin is with the Straw Hat Pirates, although, it appears they have more members than we know and are than we anticipated."

"Explain," said Akainu impatiently, wanting to know why he was dragged here.

"I only met two of them, but one could create and manipulate ice, while the other, although I'm not entirely sure what his ability is, had a body heat that could melt me. It was higher than Akainu's." he said grimly.

Sengoku's mouth dropped, "You ate the Ice Ice fruit, how is it possible that he has the same ability as you?"

"I don't know. I asked their captain about the two, and all he said is that they weren't from around here, and I'm not sure what that meant, and he just said he didn't know when I asked how they got their abilities. I just wanted to make sure you knew that something strange is happening with that crew," Aokiji said.

"What do you mean he was hotter than Akainu?" asked Kizaru.

"I mean, all he did was lay a hand on my shoulder, and I started to melt. No attacks, no Haki, nothing except laying a hand on my shoulder. Also, the man who could use ice, had a lot more control and detail in his creations. You should have seen the hammer he sent at me and the shield he created. The shield was also so cold that I couldn't shatter it." Aokiji spoke cautiously. He didn't know what was up with these new members, all he knew was they made him feel uneasy. "They also both had a symbol tattooed on them. Straw Hat said it was the symbol of some fairy tail, but I don't know what that is. "

He took a piece of paper and drew the symbol he had seen onto it. They recognized the mark as being on the blonde Celestial Goddess's hand, whose ability was still unknown, and couldn't help but wonder exactly what was happening.

"Did you happen to learn anything about the Celestial Goddess's ability? We still don't know anything about it," Sengoku asked.

"Not really. I mean she was there and I saw her, but then this man, I think he said his name was Belphegor, came out of nowhere, and then they attacked me even more, it's like they didn't want me to hear what the two were saying, but I was too preoccupied to pay attention," Aokiji said.

"I wonder who the man was," Akainu said.

Sengoku ordered them to keep a special eye on the Straw Hat crew, and to be wary of them, should they come across any of the members out in the field, specifically the ones that had the strange tattoo, as they no longer knew if the rule of no two devil fruits being the same could still be relied upon while trying to discover an opponent's ability.

"Call in Smoker, he knows more about the Straw Hats than any other Marine, we'll talk to him," Sengoku said.

~.~.~

After all of the Straw Hats had been thawed out, they left the island, heading to their next destination, wherever that may be.

"Um, Luffy, there's a giant frog doing the front crawl," Zoro called out.

Everyone thought it was ridiculous, but they were all proven wrong when they saw it. Then, they were all almost run over by a train on the ocean.

"What the hell was that?" Laxus growled.

"Dunno, maybe we should ask them," Lucy said, pointing out the small island with the little house sitting on it.

There, they met a drunk woman and her eccentric granddaughter and pet, and found out that they were going to a place called Water 7, what had nearly run them over was a steam train called the Puffing Tom, and that if they needed to get their ship fixed, they should go meet up with Iceburg. She then gave them a piece of paper as a letter of introduction to give to him upon meeting him.

After thanking the woman, the crew made their way to the Water 7, and what they saw greatly surprised all of them. The city was huge, and there were multiple levels, rising up into the sky. Over the top of it all was what appeared to be a fountain of gigantic proportions, with water spilling out over the sides into the layers below. The water flowed through the city in intricate patterns, forming the city's roadways.

"Wow, this is incredible," Lucy said, looking at the city's beauty in awe. It was truly incredible to behold. She hadn't seen anything so beautiful since she went to Crocus for the first time.

The other members of the Straw Hat Crew echoed her thoughts. It was an awesome city, and they knew that they wouldn't mind staying here while the famous shipwrights fixed up the Merry for them.

"You know, Juvia would feel right at home here," Erza said, looking over the flowing channels of water throughout the city, missing her blue haired friend. She gave the Ice Make mage a pointed look before returning her gaze to the city.

Gray blushed before looking down, huffing. He had to admit, he missed her as well, even if it was just a little bit.

"Who's Juvia?" Luffy said from his perch at the front of the ship.

"She's our friend in our guild. She has blue hair, and she's a rain woman. She can control water, and her body's actually made of water, kinda like Croccy and Eneru, and that weird Admiral guy," Natsu said excitedly. "She's kinda creepy though, cause she follows the Stripper around all the time."

"Yes, Juvia's in love with Gray, even though he always turns her down," Mira giggled, glancing at the blushing Ice Make mage. Robin looked over at him as well, seeing the blush and her shoulders drooped a little, although she wasn't sure why.

"Well, I don't like Juvia like that. Yea, we're friends, but she needs to move on. Lyon's really into her, maybe she should give him a chance," he huffed, crossing his arms over his chest as if to end the conversation. Again, Robin didn't know why, but what he said made her feel better.

"Gihi, Juvia likes you 'cause you were the first one to actually give her a chance," Gajeel said. He had known her the longest, and he knew the real reason she was so attached to Gray. "She never had a friend, they always hated her because she didn't know how to control the rain that followed her around. You helped her to see the sun, literally, and you showed her mercy, something she'd never experienced. Then you encouraged her to join Fairy Tail, and so she sees you as her first friend. Since she's never had one before, she doesn't really understand how friendships work, so she gets a little overzealous with you."

Gray nodded, he had figured that was the reason, which was why he was always so hesitant to completely brush her off. He wanted to keep her as a friend, just not more than that.

At this point, they had docked, using some directions from some of the townspeople who told them how to avoid detection by the Marines while getting their boat fixed on the island. It was strange, to say the least, that the townspeople not only seemed unafraid by the arrival of pirates, but willing to help said pirates.

"Okay, guys, we need to do a few things while we're here. First, we need to exchange all of this gold for berries, then we need to go find a shipwright to fix Merry. Sanji, you need to make sure to stock up on food for the trip too. We need somebody to stay and watch the ship, but other than that, the rest of you are on your own," Nami said, looking around at everybody. It was ridiculous, even though Luffy was the Captain, it seemed it was always Nami who was telling people what to do.

In the end, Luffy, Makarov, and Usopp decided to go with Nami, along with Cobra and Erza. Well, Nami dragged Erza, who dragged Cobra. Zoro decided to 'watch' the ship, as he leaned back and began to snore, and Gajeel and Rogue, along with their Exceeds, decided that they would stay there with him. Chopper and Robin wanted to go find a bookstore, and when Wendy and Carla expressed their interests in joining, Gray decided to come along as well. Natsu and Sting, along with Lector and Happy, wanted to go sight-seeing throughout the city, and they were dragging Lucy along with them when she grabbed onto Laxus. There was no way she was going on an adventure throughout a city as big as Water 7 with those two idiots without help. Finally, Mira decided to join Sanji with ingredient shopping, considering she was the cook of Fairy Tail and knew what everyone liked.

~.~.~

At the beri exchange store, Nami was able to use Luffy's bounty in order to get the true value of their gold, 300,000,000 beris. She was satisfied as she left, as she had also found out the best place to go in order to find a good shipwright.

"Okay, can you take us to Galley La?" she asked the Yagara Bulls that they had rented. Luffy had fallen in love with them, which she was fairly certain wasn't a good thing, but there was nothing she could do about it now.

A short, but dizzying, ride later, they were standing outside the gates of Dock 1, otherwise known as the Galley La Company. It seemed some of the customers of the company had decided that they didn't want to pay for their services, and it looked like it was the shipwrights themselves that were taking care of the less than civil clients.

After the shipwrights were finished with the pirates, Nami stepped forward, asking one of them to show her to Iceburg, holding up the note that Kokoro had given them. The man had a long nose, like Usopp, but his was square, rather than round.

Cobra, who had been lounging disinterestedly up until this point, having been dragged on the errand unwillingly, perked up slightly. He had heard something whispered in the background that had him worried. He listened closer, but heard nothing more, and left it up to his imagination. Still, though, he could have sworn he heard Robin's name whispered among the crew of shipwrights before him.

Kaku, the man with the square nose leaped into the air and across the city towards their ship, telling them he would check it out while they waited for Iceburg. The Straw Hats were in awe of his ability, with the exception of Cobra, who was again lounging disinterestedly while listening in on other people's conversations.

Then, Iceburg came forward, only vaguely resembling the poorly drawn figure Kokoro had provided them, along with his secretary, Kalifa, and agreed to take a look at the Straw Hats' ship. Nami had begun telling them about the extensive damages the poor boat had endured due to the carelessness of the crew, along with the need for a little bit more room for the ever-increasing number of inhabitants. He said that after Kaku returned and told him about the state the ship was in, he would discuss options and payment with them.

When Nami went to say that they had more than enough money, they noticed that their money had been taken by two men, who were running away from the scene quickly, only to be interrupted by another one of the shipwrights of the area, Paulie.

Paulie retrieved the money, but unfortunately, he also had plans of taking the money, due to debts he owed, but thankfully, yet another shipwright, by the name of Rob Lucci, stopped him and returned to the money to the grateful members of the Straw Hat crew, however, Lucci himself didn't actually speak, instead a pigeon spoke for him, curiously enough.

Paulie then began yelling about indecency as he looked at Nami and Erza, the latter of which offered to show him what true indecency was, before Cobra turned bright red, picking up on the redhead's thoughts.

"Why the hell would you think something like that Erza?!" Cobra yelled at her, his eyes wide and blush still clearly present on his cheeks. The shipwrights went silent at this, wondering what he meant.

"Well, I suppose that's what you get for listening in on other people's thoughts, Cobra. You should know better than that," she said, smirking at him.

"One, I can still hear you, so I know you thought that on purpose just to embarrass me, wench. And two, I listen to others thoughts so that I can sense danger and stop it before it happens," he huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and looking her in the eyes.

"Well then, why didn't you hear the people coming for the money?" she questioned him.

"Because I was listening for something else. I thought I heard someone think Robin's name and it didn't sound good so I investigated," he said. He heard both the black haired shipwright and Iceburg both think the name in question and he turned his eyes to them, narrowing.

After a moment, he shook his head, as if deciding against something, _'They're probably just wondering who Robin is.'_

"Oh, well did you find out anything?" Makarov asked him, curious. If there was a danger to his child, she needed to know about it.

"I didn't find anything out, whoever was thinking about her was thinking about something else by the time I was listening," he said in almost a pout. He wasn't happy that he missed something that could've been important.

"Excuse me, but could you tell us what the hell is going on?" Paulie exclaimed. He didn't like being left out of the loop in his own workplace.

"Well, you see, I can hear everything. It's one of my abilities. From the blood running through your veins to the thoughts running through your mind. So if you wouldn't mind, could you stop being so loud? I can hear you just fine without you needing to yell. I don't want you to blow my eardrums out," he sneered at the blonde. He may be a good guy now, but it didn't mean he had to be nice.

Erza took him by his pointed ear and then said loudly directly into it, "BE NICE."

Makarov and Nami couldn't help but laugh at her antics. However, Makarov could see how much he had changed since the man they had met during the Oracion Seis incident over seven years ago. He had matured a lot, and he had actually become a better man.

"Lady, I can hear you without you yelling!" he growled into her face. Jeez, this woman gives him a headache. Again, Makarov smiled, he would actually fit in quite well at Fairy Tail, should they ever find their way back home.

"Well, then," Kalifa said, attempting to let out the tension in the air, "Why don't we make our way to somewhere more comfortable while we wait for Kaku to return with the news of the boat?"

~.~.~

Zoro was still fast asleep when the bounty hunters came to the ship. They seemed to think they could take him in for his bounty. The other two on the boat didn't have bounties, so they assumed he wouldn't be much of a threat, and so they thought they could take those two out and Zoro and cash in on his high paying bounty. Little did they know that they had just signed their own death wish.

Zoro woke up to splashing water as the last of the bounty hunters was thrown into the sea. He quickly looked over his shoulder to see what had happened, and not recognizing the men, and not particularly caring who they were, he simply went back to sleep.

"Man that guy could sleep through an earthquake," Gajeel said, looking over at Zoro after he had gone back to sleep.

"I don't understand why he sleeps so much. He should be more vigilant. It's not as if he has Cobra's hearing, or even our hearing for that matter," Rogue said, also glancing over at the swordsman.

"Well, I doubt those guys could've taken him even if we weren't here. I'd bet he's just let his guard down a bit cause we're here too," Lily said, flying over to sit on Gajeel's shoulder.

"Fro thinks so too," Frosh said as he settled into Rogue's lap, cuddling into his chest.

Just then a man with blonde hair and a long square nose, otherwise known as Kaku, landed onto the ship from the air.

"What the hell? Who are you?" Gajeel said, getting up and ready to challenge him if needed. He was getting really tired of all these goddamn bounty hunters.

"Hello, my name's Kaku, and I'm here to investigate the ship for the Galley La Company. Your captain sent me," he said, slightly uncertain about the men before him. They definitely looked intimidating.

Gajeel looked him over once more before sitting back down next to Rogue on the deck of the ship, leaning back against the rail.

Kaku took that as the go ahead to look around the ship. They were right that this ship needed quite a bit of work done on it. It was in horrible disrepair, and the temporary boards that had been placed to stop leaks were barely passable. It would require a lot of work to get it back into a condition that he would consider safe to sail.

The last thing he needed to check, though, was the keel. He went to the center of the ship, where he would be able to most easily check its status. However, he was sad to see what he found there. The ship would be impossible to fix. They would either have to buy a new ship or build a completely new ship.

Before he left, he told the three men on the deck what he had seen. "I'm afraid that we won't be able to fix your ship. The keel is damaged beyond repair, which means that the ship won't be able to sail anymore without sinking. I'm sorry."

The three men were shocked, and they began asking hordes of questions about any way that would even remotely fix it, which he had to deny. Although they were obviously disappointed, they reacted better than others that had received the same news.

"Luffy's not gonna react well…" Zoro said after Kaku had left, and Gajeel, Rogue, Frosh, and Lily all agreed that their trip to the shipwrights would not end well.

~.~.~

Meanwhile, some of the Straw Hats were enjoying walking through the city towards the bookstore. Wendy and Chopper were looking forward to finding some medical books, while Carla was insisting Wendy get a book on etiquette for her. Robin was hoping to find some books on history or archaeology, and maybe even a good fiction book. Gray was just following them, listening as they gushed over different kinds of books.

When they reached the bookstore, Wendy dragged him to help her get the books off of the top shelf and help her carry the stacks of books her and Chopper wanted. He couldn't help but laugh at the two, they really did get along well. It wasn't until they were paying that he realized Robin wasn't there. When the realization hit, worry came with it, and when Wendy and Chopper both said they couldn't smell her, the worry spread to panic. Robin was gone.

"Where could she have gone?" Wendy asked, beginning to grow scared.

~.~.~

Meanwhile, at Marineford, Sengoku was in a meeting with his three admirals, along with the only marine to have gotten any actual experience with the Straw Hat Pirates' strange members.

"So, Captain Smoker, what can you tell us about these members?" Sengoku said, addressing the white haired man, who was busy chewing on the two cigars sticking out the side of his mouth.

Smoker sighed and removed his cigars, putting them out and setting them in the large ashtray next to him before looking Sengoku in the eye.

"Listen, I don't even believe half of it, and I don't know what's true or not. Most of what I think I've managed to figure out is based on the display of one ability and implications made by the Celestial Goddess, Lucy Heartfilia," he said, turning his gaze to the three admirals.

"Although Straw Hat and Pirate Hunter themselves are pretty strong and have pretty decent abilities, they aren't all that strange. Straw Hat was affected by the sea prism stone cage we were locked in. It was the others present that confused me. First was a man named Gajeel, although I don't know his family name. I'm not entirely sure what his ability is, or even if he has an ability for that matter, but I'm damned sure he didn't eat a devil fruit," Smoker started.

When Akainu asked why he thought this Gajeel hadn't eaten a devil fruit Smoker looked him in the eye, so that he could tell he was telling the truth, "Man just started to eat through the stone as if it was steak. He had asked if it was metal, and when he found out it was technically a metal, he began chowing down. He said something about locking an Iron Dragon Slayer in a cage of metal, but that went over my head. The others there obviously knew what he was talking about, but I was at a loss. Hell, I still am," he said, looking exasperated.

Sengoku had to fight hard to keep a look of incredulity off of his face. Yes, it would serve as evidence that the man hadn't eaten a devil fruit, but who in their right mind would eat metal?

"What does this Gajeel look like, for future reference?" Sengoku said, trying to keep some semblance of order as he saw Kizaru's eyes widen in disbelief at the revelation.

Smoke barked out a laugh, "It'd be hard to miss him. I can pretty much guarantee you won't mistake him for someone else. Long, spiky, unruly black hair, blood red eyes, and piercings along the shell of his ears, across his eyebrows, down each side of his nose, on his chin, and down the sides of his arm. I'd be willing to bet he has more where we can't see 'em too. He's also got a shit eating grin that could put Eustass Kidd's to shame. He's strong too, even if he doesn't have an ability I'd bet he'd be a good fighter given the amount of muscle and scars covering his body." He was certainly right that the man would be hard to miss.

Smoker took a drag of a new cigar before continuing, "The next guy was named Python, I think. No wait, it was Cobra, definitely Cobra. I have no idea what kind of ability he has fighting wise, but from what I could see, and hear, he can hear thoughts. He was pretty damn big too, so probably a good fighter hand to hand, but I don't know if he's got any kind of special ability. He hasn't eaten a devil fruit either though, 'cause he could swim. Spiky red hair, purple eyes, a scar through one of them, and pointed ears. He could move 'em around too, which was weird."

They nodded, so far, they hadn't heard anything that was worrying too much, but at the same time, they weren't learning much at all. However, hearing thoughts isn't natural and would be something granted by a devil fruit, but if he could swim, he obviously hadn't eaten one. Again, they weren't entirely sure what they were dealing with.

"He said something about sorcery, out of nowhere. I think it had something to do with Crocodile's thoughts, and it just confused me, but that's what he said," Smoke said before taking another drag of smoke.

"Okay, so Laxus is next. He already has a bounty, but I know you don't know much about him, other than he has a lightning ability. Sorry to say, but he sure as hell didn't eat a devil fruit. He changed his body into lightning, like a Logia would, but then he just went right through the sea stone, then he swam his way out of the flood Crocodile tried to trap us with. So, he's definitely got a non-human ability, and he definitely isn't a devil fruit user. Guy's huge to boot and intimidating to be around with his scar, and pretty much the only expression I saw on his face was an indifferent glare, as if he didn't give two shits about what was happening around him," Smoker said, thinking about the huge man.

"The other blonde man was named Sting, and he did basically the same thing as Laxus, but with what looked like a laser, almost like Kizaru's ability. He, too, phased through the sea stone without so much as a second glance and swam his way out of the prison. Blonde hair, blue eyes, one earing, a scar over his left eye, and a huge cocky grin too, I wanted to smack it off his face," Smoker said, turning his face over to Kizaru, who had paid a little bit more attention when he mentioned there was some form of light involved.

"Well, I'll just have to see it for myself to see just how interesting this guy's light is. I wonder when I'll get to have a run in with him," Kizaru said. He would remember the name Sting and watch out for a bounty pertaining to the boy.

"There was another man named Rogue, who did the same thing, but he basically crawled into and out of the shadow at his feet, no devil fruit again. Black hair, red eyes, but smaller than Gajeel, and his hair was shorter. He wasn't the pack of muscles Gajeel or Laxus were, more lean, like Sting. It was pretty obvious they were younger than the first two. Cobra was probably somewhere in between the two, along with the kid named Natsu, who had pink hair," Smoker said. Aokiji sat up a little straighter, pink hair wasn't exactly normal, which meant that it was probably the man he had met.

"Natsu had a toned down version of Gajeel's shit eating grin, and the same sharp teeth as Sting. Now that I think about it, all of the guys had those sharp teeth. Anyways, I could have sworn I was insane, because the guy literally lit himself on fire and then just stood there. When the fire went out, there weren't any burn marks and he just looked ready for a fight," he said, remembering how the pinkette had seemed so excited to get some action.

Aokiji nodded at him; that seemed to make sense, as the guy had almost melted him with his hand alone, but he still was curious how the guy had lit himself on fire without getting burnt. Fire Fist Ace had the fire fruit, and even he would get burnt by flames, even if he could control them.

"Then there was this kid, couldn't be older than 11 or 12, long blue hair and big brown eyes named Wendy. She was eager to help her friends get out of the little jail so she just sucked in some air, yelled out Sky Dragon's Roar and then what amounted to a miniature tornado shot from her mouth and decimated both the cage and part of the room in front of us. I don't know what the hell she did or how she did it without a devil fruit, because she was swimming when the water came through," he said, looking bewildered as he remembered the events.

He almost didn't expect the Admiral's in front of him to believe him, because if someone else tried to tell him what he was saying now, he sure as hell wouldn't have believed it either, but they remained silent so he continued.

"The last one there was the Celestial Goddess. I don't know what her ability is, but she somehow made a man appear out of thin air. The man was all over her, and he called himself Mammon, and he called her Goddess. He's the one that dragged me out, apparently according to her orders. That's where things got confusing. I don't know why she did it, hell I still don't, but she was saying something that sounded a lot like her and her strange friends came from another world completely, or at the very least somewhere not under the rule of the World Government, which sure as hell isn't anywhere in this world," he said, looking at the Admirals. Their eyes widened, but they didn't say anything as they waited for him to continue.

"She said that they became pirates to find a way home, and some of the things made it sound like they were criminals in wherever they come from too, but I'm not sure. She said something about fairy tales, and then she said that she didn't have to kill or leave someone to die if she didn't want to. That's all I can tell ya, sorry I don't have much information for ya," he said, resting the butt of his cigar into ashtray before standing up to go.

"Wait, did you see a guy with the ability to control ice with black hair?" Aokiji said.

"Sorry, but I didn't, the only people I saw were the people I told ya about," he said, and then he left through the door, leaving the three Admirals and one Fleet Admiral to figure out what to do with the information they had just been given.

In the end, they decided that them being from another world made more sense than them being born here with these special abilities, because the evidence that stated they hadn't eaten of a devil fruit was quite easy to see, and they had no idea what other way they could have gotten their abilities.

~.~.~

Back in Water 7, Luffy wasn't taking the news of the new ship very well. He couldn't seem to grasp the concept that the Merry would never be able to sail again, and they could never replace her.

In the end, Iceburg had managed to calm him down enough so that he could return to their ship and think through the options they had. However, on the way there, they found two empty briefcases that had contained 200,000,000 of the beris they had traded in from the Skypeia treasure, and Usopp was nowhere in sight.

They knew Usopp wouldn't have run off with the money, so they assumed that it was the Franky House that had stolen the money, since they had been the ones to try to steal it earlier.

Luffy ran off into the heart of the city, determined to find their headquarters and take them down, with Erza chasing after him, while Cobra decided to help Nami locate Usopp, whose blood he could smell. Makarov decided to return to the ship to inform the others of the situation.

When Cobra and Nami tracked down Usopp, they found him in horrible condition, and they helped him up in order to get him back to the ship. Hopefully Wendy and Chopper would be back and able to give him some medical attention.

On the other side of the city, Makarov came to Zoro, Gajeel, and Rogue, as well as Laxus, Lucy, Sting, and Natsu who had just returned. He told them what had happened, and, like Luffy, Natsu went off running, tracking Luffy's scent in order to catch up with him. Laxus decided to go find Sanji and Chopper in order to get their help. Lucy decided to stay and help when Usopp came back. Rogue and Sting then took off in the direction Natsu went in, followed by Gajeel. He may not be the biggest fan of the liar, but he was always good for a laugh. Besides, this Franky Family had taken their money AND beat up on one of his crewmates, they weren't going to get away with it if he was around. They made it personal. Zoro immediately followed after Gajeel, just as angry as the others.

Soon after they left, Mira returned carrying their groceries, telling Makarov that Sanji had already headed towards the Franky House. Wendy came bearing the same news as Mira about Chopper, also telling them that Laxus had gone to the Franky House to help the others, and shortly after her, Nami approached with Usopp spread across her and Cobra's shoulders.

Wendy immediately went to take a look at Usopp's wounds, despite his insistence that he was okay. She was still worried about the fact that Robin had disappeared, but she would worry about that later. Robin could handle herself; they could find her later. Right now Usopp took priority.

"Don't even think about it," Cobra said, turning his eye over to look at Usopp. "You're in no position to go and try to start a fight. Your only job right now is to sit here and let the little girl look you over. Now stop thinking like that."

It was so uncharacteristic of Cobra that Usopp actually stopped thinking about going to help at the Franky House and allowed Wendy to look over his wounds without the fuss.

Cobra didn't even know what had come over him. He just knew that Usopp's comments about himself inside of his head were bugging him. Maybe it was because he was calling himself weak. Cobra didn't associate with anyone weak. That meant that Usopp wasn't weak. Usopp may not be the best at hand to hand combat, but close quarter battles weren't his specialty. Usopp handled long distance weapons and was damn good at what he did, from what he could tell. Yea, he lied a lot, but they were usually more funny than annoying. And yea, he could be the biggest baby Cobra had ever met, but when it came down to it, Usopp always rose to the occasion. Even now, he was itching to get back up and help out the crew.

What the hell was wrong with him? He didn't think like this. This wasn't him. He was only here because the Magic Council forced him to go on that stupid mission with the other Dragon Slayers and now he was stuck here in another world with a pirate crew. He was still a criminal as far as this world was concerned.

Somehow, though, being a criminal in the Straw Hat Pirates wasn't the same as being a criminal in the Oracion Seis. No, it was like he was in Crime Sorciere, something outside the law, but worked against evil. They didn't want government sanction for their action, because they could do more without the rules of the formal guild system holding them back. It was a little different. The Straw Hats weren't deliberately working to stop evil, but still, they ended up doing it anyways.

Anyways, why was the little girl so worried about Robin? He just kept hearing that name, what the hell was up with her lately? Ever since they ran into that Admiral guy, she'd been acting weird. He'd figure it out eventually. Right now, he had to focus on making sure the ship and the girls were alright. They would have plenty of people at the Franky House to get revenge and get the money back, and while he knew the She Devil could handle herself if things here got bad, she didn't particularly like fighting, and neither did the little girl or Makarov. Plus, Usopp was in no position to defend himself. Lucy could also help if something happened, but if there were a lot of people coming, she might not be able to handle them all herself. She had gotten a lot stronger since they got here, but she still wasn't ready to take on too many opponents at once, no matter what the skill level. He would watch over the ship until the others got back.

~.~.~

At the Franky House, everyone had arrived and were walking towards the entrance of the house, prepared to do whatever it took to take them down. This was about more than the money; this was about the fact that they had deliberately beaten Usopp to the brink of death for it. They would get their revenge on the Franky Family.

When they walked in, the Franky Family stared at them as if they were crazy. They began taunting them, and then brought out a giant covered in armor. When Luffy beat in his indestructible armor, they brought out their canons, shooting giant metal balls at them, and then stared in shock and horror as Gajeel just ate the balls before letting out a small sadistic laugh and a large sadistic grin.

By the time they were done with the Franky Family, the Franky House was no longer standing, and Luffy had come to a decision. They would get a new ship. However, it seemed they would need to work something out, because apparently Franky, the leader of the group, had already gone off and used their money.

That was when Luffy told them of his decision, they would be getting a new ship.


	7. To Enies Lobby

*reminder: I rewrote this story a little bit, so you might need to go back to reread the previous chapters*

Chapter 7: To Enies Lobby

Back at the Going Merry, things weren't going very well. Luffy had tried to break the news that they would need a new ship softly, but Usopp wasn't having it. He couldn't stand the thought of leaving one of their friends behind.

Turning to the Earthlanders, he yelled at them, "You guys always talk about never leaving friends behind, but now you're here telling me that we have to leave Merry behind!"

Erza gritted her teeth, yelling, "We've had to leave people behind!"

Everyone stopped speaking, as they looked at her, "My childhood friend DIED for me, and I couldn't do ANYTHING. I couldn't... save him, but we had to leave him, we had to leave or else we would have all died, and his dying wish was for me to live. The only reason I'm still here today is because of him, and his sacrifice. He sacrificed himself so that I could live, so that I could continue on, it would be an injustice to him if I had refused to leave him when the Tower came down, and if I had died with him. Merry has sacrificed so much of herself to bring us this far, to take us here so that we could live and continue our journey, and it would be an injustice to her sacrifice for us to continue to our deaths instead of finding a new ship and continuing on."

The original Straw Hat crew, along with Sting and Rogue, were, for the most part confused on the events she was speaking of, but the message came through clearly. Lucy and Mira ran to comfort their friend, while Usopp sat silently.

"Tonight," Usopp said, looking at Luffy, "Tonight I'm fighting you. I'm no longer a part of this crew if you're going to leave the Merry, and tonight, we'll fight. The winner gets to keep the Merry and decide what happens to her."

Nami was holding back tears, while Luffy simply nodded, accepting Usopp's terms, with Zoro standing behind him, daring anyone to disagree with the Captain's words. Makarov and Laxus sat on the sides, watching silently.

When Usopp had left, with members of the crew holding Chopper and Nami back from running after him, and Luffy had retreated to his own space to clear his head, Zoro turned towards the Earthlanders, specifically Laxus and Makarov.

"Why didn't you stop this?" Zoro asked.

"Did you expect us to?" Makarov asked back, remaining calmly seated.

"I expected you to try," Zoro said, "So I want to know why you didn't."

"Did you want us to?" Makarov said, still not answering his question.

"No, this needed to happen, Usopp, and everyone, needs to know that Luffy is the captain. We need to trust him and his decisions, he's usually pretty easy-going, but at the end of the day he's in charge," Zoro said. He could see Natsu in the corner lighting and extinguishing his hands, clearly agitated.

"My boy, there are always going to be times when bonds are stressed, and when sometimes, people need to take time away to cool off, and to discover what it is they want, who they want to be, what they want to accomplish, and who they want to be with," Makarov said. "Right now, is simply Usopp's time to decide what he wants, and I'm fairly certain, that one day, he will return."

"How would you know that?" Nami said, lifting her head, tears streaming down her face, but a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

"Because, Laxus returned," Makarov said.

"Laxus? What does Laxus have to do with anything? And what do you mean, he returned? He never left!" Chopper said, crying out in anguish.

"Laxus's story is a story for another time, and it is not my story to tell, it's his, however, if you doubt me, ask Laxus and Cobra what they think," Makarov said.

All eyes in the room turned to the two men, standing next to each other talking quietly, but they stopped their conversation when they felt eyes on them.

"He's confused, but he'll be back, eventually, he needs to find himself, this is about more than just the ship, and you all know that, give him time," Laxus said.

Cobra considered staying silent, but when he felt everyone's eyes on him, he said, "The old man didn't tell you to ask me because I can read his mind, he told you to ask me because I understand Usopp. Right now, he doesn't feel like he belongs here, like he's needed here, but something will eventually push him to return, and I have a feeling, that something is going to happen soon. Right now, leave Usopp be, we have other things to worry about."

"What do you mean? How can we just forget and not worry about Usopp?!" Chopper yelled.

"Because, he's stronger than you think, and stronger than he thinks, but, I haven't heard anything from Robin all day," Cobra said, "I've only heard whispers of her name in the background noise of the city, all connected to some group, CP9, but I don't know what that means."

"Oh Robin, I hope she's okay," Nami said, her tears falling harder now that she was thinking about her friend who had disappeared.

"I don't know if she is now," Gray said, "But she will be, because Fairy Tail, and the Straw Hats by extension, will never leave anybody behind."

"Oh yeah, then what about Usopp?" Chopper snapped.

Finally, Natsu picked up his head, "That's not us leaving him, that's him leaving us, but trust me, he'll never really be alone, even when you leave Fairy Tail, you always have us behind you."

He stormed out of the room and went off on his own.

"He better not be going after Usopp!" Zoro yelled, moving to go after Natsu but Gajeel held him back.

"He's not, he's probably just trying to find something to destroy, be happy he stayed silent, that must've taken a lot of will power on his part," Gajeel said. "What Usopp did, is... similar to something in our past, Natsu didn't like it then, and he doesn't like it now, but he acknowledges the similarities, and knows that this is for the best, at least for now. Leave him be, he'll be back."

Zoro nodded, although he was still unsure. He then decided that everyone needed rest and they went to begin packing up their things, he knew that no matter how tomorrow ended, it would be their last day with the Merry.

That night, Luffy and Usopp had their fight, with the rest of the crew watching from the ship. They were unsurprised when Luffy one, and followed him when Luffy left the Merry to Usopp, going to find a hotel to stay in for the night, oblivious to the happenings of the world around them.

The next morning, the Luffy and Nami made their way to Dock 1 to find Iceburg to talk about a new ship, however, he was interrupted by Franky, who had come looking for a fight to avenge his fallen friends. Franky's strange abilities had them questioning who, or rather what he was, but it was soon revealed that Franky was a cyborg.

However, they were soon joined by the members of Galley La. They were also seeking revenge, but Luffy didn't know what for. It was revealed that Iceburg had pointed Robin out as one of his attackers and would-be assassins, causing Luffy and Nami to retreat and go to Iceburg to get to the bottom of the rumors.

When all of the Straw Hats meet later that day, it brings news of Chopper and Sanji's news regarding Robin, and they conclude she's somehow being forced into her assassination attempt. It's decided that Sanji would go look for Robin around the city, along with Gray. Cobra, Lucy, and Gajeel, along with Lily, decide to form another search party for her as they go off together. Makarov, Wendy, Carla, and Mira decide to go search for Robin as well. The remainder of the Straw Hats, including Laxus, Natsu, Sting, Rogue, and their Exceeds decide to go to Iceburg's house to watch out for Robin.

Nami, Chopper, Zoro, Laxus, and Rogue all decide that they need to break in after seeing Robin, accompanied by several masked men, break through the Galley La workers standing in front of Iceburg's residence. It was then that they noticed that Natsu, Sting, and Luffy, along with the two Exceeds, had disappeared. Deciding that the three had most likely attempted to break in loudly and through the front door, they decide that stealth is not necessary and move towards the front of the building, hoping to sneak in amidst the chaos the other three were undoubtedly making. However, the minute they arrived, they found themselves surrounded and forced to fight with the members of the Galley La Company in order to get to Iceburg's room.

Luffy, Natsu, and Sting managed to get stuck between the walls of two buildings, with Happy and Lector frantically trying to help them get through. Once they managed to free themselves, they broke into the room that Paulie was in, fighting with some of the CP9 agents. Caught off guard by their strange abilities, the three, along with Paulie, were pinned to the ground while the CP9 agents left. Luffy and the others were able to free themselves and made their way to Iceburg's room.

When they broke in, they found the members of CP9, Robin, Iceburg, and the members of the Straw Hats that weren't wandering through the city in search of Robin.

"Well, it looks like everyone is here then," one of the masked men said. "I guess it's time that we revealed ourselves."

The men took off their masks, revealing themselves to be the members of Galley La, in addition to a man from the city that Paulie knew.

"It's... it's you guys!" Paulie yelled out, running to attack Lucci. However, he was quickly beaten down. Robin quickly leaves before the Straw Hats have the opportunity to talk with her, and they're left facing off with the CP9 agents until the bomb goes off.

"What the hell are those abilities?" Zoro yelled, trying to figure out what they were doing.

"All CP9 agents are able to use six special powers that makes us stronger than the average fighter," Lucci explained calmly.

"Whaaaat?" The three idiots questioned cocking their heads to the side.

"But I thought the only people with special abilities here are the people with devil fruits," Natsu said.

Laxus groaned, "Remember what Lucy was saying about people developing special techniques to fight people with devil fruit powers without actually eating a devil fruit? That's what they did."

Natsu nodded, along with Sting and Luffy, although they still didn't completely understand, but they didn't need to really, so they didn't care.

"To a certain extent, that's correct, however, some of us have eaten devil fruits," Lucci said. He then revealed his powerful devil fruit before the CP9 agents left, just as the building went up in flames.

"NATSU!" Laxus yelled out.

"You got it!" Natsu said, sucking up all of the fire in order to prevent his friends from being turned to ash, even though the impact of the explosion sent them flying in different directions.

When the CP9 agents went to find Franky, who has taken Usopp as his prisoner, the Straw Hats, with the exception of Gray and Sanji, saw Iceburg's house go up in flames and immediately went there to find out what had happened. When they get there, they see Nami speaking excitedly with the other members of their crew, except Zoro and Luffy who are nowhere to be seen.

Nami, seeing them arrive, turned to them excitedly, "Robin didn't really betray us! She went with Lucci and the others so that we could leave the island safely, she sacrificed herself for us!"

"Wait what? What does that Lucci guy have to do with this?" Erza asked.

"Who the hell is Lucci?" Gajeel growled out.

Nami quickly caught them up on the events of the night before saying, "Come on we have to find Zoro and Luffy, they were blown away by the blast."

"Wait, what about Gray and Sanji?" Wendy asked.

"Don't worry about them, they can hold their own, and they're close to Robin, they won't give up on her," Cobra said, "Now let's go."

They went throughout the city, searching for their missing friends, while Sanji and Gray managed to slip onto the sea train carrying Robin, leaving behind a message and a communication snail to contact them once they were able to find one on the train.

Nami and the others were able to find Zoro and Luffy, filling them in while running for their lives from the waves of Aqua Laguna, and heading to the sea train station, only to see the Puffing Tom leaving. However, they also found Gray and Sanji's message, restoring their hope as they went to try and find a ship to take them to Enies Lobby. Luckily for them, Kokoro had the solution.

Meanwhile on the train, Lucci sat down with Robin, "There are some things that you should know before we get to Enies Lobby. We will keep up our end of the deal, however, we've added a term, you have to tell us what you know of the newest members of the Straw Hat crew."

Robin's eyes widened, "Absolutely not, that wasn't part of the deal."

"We're changing the terms," Lucci said seriously, "Either you tell us, or we go after the Straw Hat crew with all of our power."

"What makes me so sure that you won't just go after them anyways?" Robin spat out.

"Are you implying that they're so dangerous we would be willing to go back on our deal to allow them to safely leave the city to get to them?" Lucci asked.

Robin glared before turning her head to the side. She was beginning to wonder if this was a good idea, 'I'll just have to tell them what we agreed on.. Otherwise, they'll all be killed.'

"You have until we reach Enies Lobby to decide, it won't be too late for us to turn around and return to Water 7 for them," Lucci said.

Robin resisted the urge to roll her eyes, 'As if you would stand a chance, but... if they used a buster call, I don't think Fairy Tail would even survive...'

Meanwhile, Sanji and Gray had managed to make their way through several of the cars and had picked up Franky and "Sniper King" along the way.

'God, this guy is more stupid than Natsu sometimes,' Gray thought, rolling his eyes, but deciding to play along anyways.

They were finally able to contact Nami and were brought up to speed on the events and why Robin had decided to go with CP9. Sanji assured her that they would stay on the ship and try to reach Robin and get her out of there.

Nami hung up the snail, turning to her comrades, "Gray and Sanji are on the sea train with Franky and 'Sniper King', and they're going to try to help Robin, we just have to keep up with them."

"We can do that!" Kokoro said, "Although I'm a little worried about Aqua Laguna, there's a lot of waves."

Traversing a few obstacles, including a giant wave and a train car left on the tracks, the Straw Hats, with the addition of the Galley La Company members and the Franky Family made their way to Enies Lobby.

"You guys are sure you're okay with us tagging along?" Zambae asked, "I mean, we did steal all your money, beat up your friend, and fight you guys."

Natsu shrugged, "Eh, we already got you back for all of that, besides, we're both fighting the same people now, so as long as none of you try to step in on my fights, I'm fine."

"Step in on your fights?" Paulie asked.

"What Natsu means is, yesterday's enemies are today's friends, we're no strangers to making friends from previous enemies, trust me, and in response to your question, Paulie, he means that if he's fighting someone, don't try to 'help' him, he'll take it as a personal attack on his ego," Laxus said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh.. Um.. I see," Paulie said, shrugging.

Just then, Lucy, Nami, Erza, Wendy, and Mira walked in, newly clothed with items Virgo had brought them from the Celestial Spirit World.

"Princess, are you happy with the clothes I have provided, or do I need to be punished?" Virgo asked.

"PUNISHMENT?! AND WHO THE HELL IS SHE?!" Paulie yelled, "AND ALL OF YOU, PUT SOME DAMN CLOTHES ON!"

The girls looked down at themselves. Virgo seemed to think they were going on some kind of spy mission, since they were 'infiltrating' Enies Lobby, so they each, with the exception of Wendy, had a pair of form fitting black sleeveless jumpsuits, stopping around mid-thigh, with zippers going down the bust, showing lots of cleavage. The black color of the jumpsuit had tiny flecks of silver, copying the appearance of the night sky. Wendy's outfit was the same color, but instead of the jumpsuit, she wore a loose fitting dress that flowed around her, looking like the night sky literally travelling in the wind. All five girls had their hair up in high ponytails.

"Well, Virgo might have gone a bit overboard, but I think the clothes are appropriate," Lucy said, checking out her butt in the window of the train car.

"Yes, I actually quite like the material, its flexible and rather comfortable, I may need to keep this as a more casual ensemble to wear on normal days rather than my armor," Erza said, doing some quick stretches to test the material.

"Well, I really like this dress, it's like the wind at night," Wendy said, spinning around and watching the twinkling from her dress.

"I quite like this outfit actually, it reminds me of my younger days," Mira smiled, "I also feel ready for a fight, although I think I might try to stay more for support tonight rather than a one on one fight, I'm still trying to get used to fighting again, it's been a while."

"I like the outfits, we look hot," Nami shrugged, checking herself and the other girls out in the window of the car, "Do you have a problem with our outfits, Paulie?"

"DAMN STRAIGHT I DO, THEY'RE INAPPROPRIATE, YOU NEED TO COVER UP!" Paulie huffed.

"You hear that Virgo?" Cobra said, opening his one eye to look over at the spirit, "Paulie over here doesn't like your outfit choices."

"Cobra don't you dar-" Lucy began.

"Why don't you punish him?" Cobra smirked at Lucy.

"Yes, I agree, if you are not happy with my Princess's choice of attire, I must punish you," Virgo said, her face void of emotion as she began wrestling Paulie into various positions.

"Virgo, it's fine, really, and the clothes are great, you can go back now," Lucy said, glaring at Cobra and trying appease Virgo.

"As you wish, Princess," Virgo said, bowing before disappearing back to the spirit world.

"Where did she go?!" Kiwi and Mozu said together.

At the same time, Tilestone said, "Wow, you're a princess!"

"Um.. It's a bit difficult to explain, and no I'm not a real princess, Virgo just calls me that," Lucy said, a sweat drop appearing on her head.

"Ah, it won't be long until we reach Enies Lobby," Gajeel said, grinning widely, "I can't wait to fight these people, I wonder if any of them have devil fruits."

"Yea, be careful to those of you who end up in fights with the members, they have special abilities, but I wasn't able to figure out all of their abilities, but they have 6 special powers that are unique to them, so don't just rush into anything," Laxus said.

"I feel as if that is pointless advice, as if the idiots will listen to it anyways," Rogue said, glancing over at Sting and Natsu, who had their heads sticking out the window like a pair of dogs.

"Well, the advice was more for the girls and the more sane members of the crew, anyways," Laxus said, sighing as he looked at the two boys.

They sat comfortably on the train until Enies Lobby came into sight.

~.~.~

When they reached Enies Lobby, they were joined by Sanji, Gray, and Soge King on Rocket Man, who informed them that CP9 had taken Robin and Franky with them, therefore they had to rescue them before the Gates of Justice opened.

When they finally reach the front gates of the Judicial Island, they are met with giants and other forms of defense against enemy attacks. The large group starts fighting as soon as they can, while Luffy propelled himself over the wall.

"Hey! No fair! I wanna go fight people too!" Natsu whined. He stopped suddenly and then started grinning, looking over at Happy, "Come on little buddy! Let's go!"

Happy smiled back, yelling, "Aye, sir!"

The two took off after Luffy, following him into Enies Lobby and leaving the others to face the giants.

"Ugh! Of course he would leave us with the giants! You would have thought he'd WANT to fight them," Lucy grumbled.

"Well, everyone is here, it would have been no fun for him to fight if everyone else is fighting too," Erza pointed out.

"Why do they always have to make things so difficult, I just hope they don't cause too much trouble," Nami sighed, returning to the task at hand. They were attempting to hold off the swarms of Marines coming towards them.

In a strange turn of events, Rocket Man was propelled over the gates into Enies Lobby and they began trying to catch up to Luffy, cutting down Marines as they passed. While Luffy was fighting with Blueno, Spandam began his interrogation of Robin.

"So, Robin, when Aokiji gave me permission to use the Buster Call, he added one more term to the arrangement," Spandam began, making Robin visibly flinch at Aokiji's name.

"Oh yeah, and what's that?!" Franky yelled out.

"Shut up you nasty mongrel," Spandam kicked him in the side, before turning back to Robin, "He wants to know about your new little friends, the weird ones."

"The weird ones?" Robin asked, knowing what he meant but attempting to feign ignorance, now would be the perfect time to at least help her former crew mates with fooling the government on who they really were.

"Yes, the ones from the fairy tales," Spandam said, "What does that mean anyways, Aokiji didn't know."

'Fairy tales? Oh, Lucy did mention her conversation with Smoker, she must have said something about Fairy Tail,' Robin thought, "I'm not sure, I don't actually know that much about them."

"What do you know, then? According to Marine Intelligence, they have abilities similar to the devil fruits, although their abilities mirror the abilities of devil fruits who's consumers are already known, and they can also swim and are resistant to sea prism stone," Spandam said, "And they all have that strange crest on them somewhere."

Several of the members of CP9 gasped, their eyes widening, not believing what they were hearing to be possible.

"I don't know they entirety of it," Robin said, "I don't think even they really know much about it, all they know, and all I know, is that they consumed some kind of mutant devil fruit, and they don't have the regular drawbacks of the devil fruits."

"What, all of them?!" Spandam asked.

"All of the Straw Hats except the Pirate Hunter, the Captain, the Navigator, the Cook, and Long Nose," Robin said, "I'm afraid I don't actually know much about their abilities or the extent of their abilities, we haven't known each other for that long."

"You seem to be giving up this information rather easily," Spandam said, "Are you sure there isn't more to the story?"

"I will do anything to protect them from a Buster Call," Robin said angrily, and when Spandam turned to receive an incoming call, she whispered under her breath, "And that was the lie we had agreed on."

Franky had to strain his ears to hear, even though he wasn't sure he was supposed to hear it. He had seen some of Gray's abilities on the Puffing Tom and he had to agree, he was anything but normal.

"Well, it appears they aren't as dangerous as Aokiji had thought, they've barely managed to make a dent in our forces," Spandam said haughtily, turning towards the CP9 agents, "What do you guys think, did you meet any of them?"

"We met a few, although we didn't really have a chance to fight with them to gauge their abilities, however, they didn't put up much of a fight in Iceburg's home," Lucci said, "Although I do know that one of them can hear thoughts, he mentioned it when I met him, but that's all I know of it."

"Their cats can talk and fly," Kaku said, "I don't know how, but when I was on their ship, their little cats were flying around with wings and talking."

"Maybe they're from some kind of research island," Kalifa said, "That would explain the mutant cats and the mutant devil fruits, somebody is doing tests without government approval."

"This will be most useful information when setting up their bounties," Spandam said, "We'll have to take them in alive today, remember that, we can send them to our own research facilities."

"What?!" Robin yelled, "YOU PROMISED NOT TO TOUCH THEM!"

"We promised to let them leave Water 7 peacefully, and now that they have left Water 7, they are free game for us to hunt," Spandam laughed, "But don't worry, I won't use the Buster Call, well, I won't use it YET, anyways."

They were interrupted by a commotion. Franky and Robin are able to break free and rush to the side of the building, seeing all of the Straw Hats standing up on the roof of the next building over. She begs them to stop and tells them about her past, the pain she went through as a result of the Buster Call. When she finishes, she sees the members of the Straw Hat Pirates looking towards her, some with tears in her eyes, and some with looks to kill.

"Do you think that changes anything for us?!" Natsu yelled down, "Because you're right, it does."

Robin and Franky gasped, shocked, while Spandam smirked, ready to rub it in her face that her crew did not want her, when Natsu continued.

"NOW WE HAVE TO FIGHT!" Natsu yelled down, his body immediately catching on fire. The rest of the Earthlanders had their magic violently slashing around them, their faces set.

"Wait! Wait!" Spandam yells, observing the anger and the power coming from the Straw Hats, "Don't you guys know that taking in Robin and infiltrating us here is declaring war on the entire World Government?!"

Luffy simply turned to Soge King, who took out his slingshot and shot down the government flag flying at the top of the building.

Everyone's eyes turned to Robin, begging her to say what they all desperately wanted to her, what she needed to say.

"I WANT TO LIVE!" Robin yelled out into the silence, and from there, the war started.

Franky, watching everything occurring before him, decides to burn the blueprints, deciding that the Straw Hats would save Robin, and Robin would never help to create a weapon of that kind, so the blueprints were just a liability.

The Straw Hats were trying to decide on a way to get over to the Justice Building, when Kokoro called them and told them to jump into the waterfall, which they did, and then Rocketman came and swept them all away, including Franky.

The had reached the front door of the Justice Building and went inside. When they reached the stairs, they ran into a member of CP9, Fukuro, who explained to them that they each had a key, one of which would open the seastone cuffs that they had put Robin in. In order to free her, they would need to defeat all of CP9.

Luffy decided to follow after Spandam and Lucci, while he left the rest of the crew to fight the remaining members of CP9, collect their keys, and meet with him to free Robin and Franky and figure out a way home.

After Fukura had fled, Zoro turned to look at the Straw Hats, "There's 17 of us, and there's only 5 of them, everyone, pick a partner and we'll go."

Usopp, under the guise of Sogeking, grabbed onto Laxus, who rolled his eyes, but headed off with the man. Mira and Makarov headed in another direction, Sanji dragged Lucy off, Nami and Cobra went in another direction, Sting and Rogue turned and headed off in another direction, Erza and Wendy followed suit, Zoro and Gajeel headed off, and Gray and Franky went off in another direction.

The Exceeds decided to stay back with Kokoro, Chimney, and Gonbe, and travelled along with her as she explored through the tunnels, helping Chimney get Luffy to Lucci and Robin.

~.~.~

Gray and Franky were heading to the kitchen, with Franky claiming he needed to recharge, and, although Gray didn't know what he meant, he figured a least they were heading somewhere.

"Is it true?" Franky asked, "That you guys have mutant devil fruits, or is it true that it's the lie you guys agreed upon?"

"What?" Gray said, turning his head to look at Franky as they ran.

"Robin said something to Spandam about you guys having eaten some kind of mutant devil fruit, but then she muttered something under her breath, the others didn't hear it, and I don't think I was supposed to hear it, but it sounded like she said that's the lie you guys agreed on," Franky said.

"Maybe when I trust you a bit more I'll tell you exactly how we got our abilities," Gray said, "Until then, all you need to know, is that we didn't eat a regular devil fruit."

Their conversation was stopped short, however, when they ran into Fukuro and another man they didn't recognize.

"I see, we've found two of them," Fukuro said. "Remember that Chief Spandam said to take the ones with the emblems in alive."

"Oh really, so he wants us alive, does he?" Gray said, smirking, "It's not as if it'll do you any good, although, I doubt you'll manage to beat any of us."

"You're quite cocky," the second man said, glaring at Gray.

"Of course I am, we're the Straw Hat Pirates, and we always win, we've already beaten God, what kind of a threat could you possibly be?" Gray said, unbuttoning his shirt, revealing the Fairy Tail insignia.

"He's one of the special ones, I'll take him on, you take Franky," the second man growled.

"So there's more CP9 agents than just the five, I see," Gray said.

"Of course there are, as if we'd reveal our entire ranks to someone before they're here, the element of surprise will always provide an advantageous opportunity, I just wish you had been alone, then it would be two on one," he smirked.

"Well, unfortunately for you, nobody is alone right now, and also, that's a cheap shot, Fair- the Straw Hat Pirates would never stoop so low as a two on one trap," Gray said, growling.

"Yet, you broke off in partners apparently, isn't that the same as setting up a two on one trap," the man said.

"No, because we'd never fight two on one, we'd fight each other over who got to fight you," Gray smirked, "Now, Ice Make Hammer!"

The man quickly muttered, "Soru (Shave)", dashing out of the way before laying several quick attacks to Gray's side, "Shigan (Finger Pistol)."

"You act like it's a privilege to fight us," he said. "I must say, I'm honored."

"Heh, don't be, we just like fighting, you're not special," Gray laughed, "And those must be the special techniques I've heard of, not bad, but I've been hit by worse."

"Well, I'd like to think I'm very special, so why don't I tell you who I am, that way you'll always remember me as the man that took you down," the man said, "My name is Ajax."

"Gray Fullbuster, nice to meet you, you'll always remember me as the man you couldn't beat," Gray yelled, "Ice Make: Battle Axe."

He struck at Ajax, swinging the intricate axe at him, while Ajax used his Soru (Shave) technique to quickly move out of the way, avoiding the powerful slashes of the axe. He quickly fired back, yelling, "Rankyaku (Tempest Kick).

Gray blocked the attack with his axe, which shattered upon impact, leaving him open to several quick attacks of Ajax's Shigan (Finger Pistol).

"You see, each of us has a specialty of one of the six Rokushiki (Six Powers). My specialty is the Shigan (Finger Pistol)," Ajax said, smirking.

Gray was doubled over, several holes in his abdomen. He quickly put a layer of ice over the openings, preventing future blood loss. When he pulled his hand off of his stomach, looking at the blood covering it, he laughed slightly, "You know, I've never seen anything quite like your guys's skills, they're quite versatile and I've only seen three, looks like this will be an interesting fight."

Ajax was slightly thrown off by Gray's nonchalant attitude. He had never met anyone so nonplussed while facing agents of CP9.

"Now, I think the most annoying thing about your abilities is that stupid Soru (Shave) technique, it makes you awfully fast," Gray said, setting up his stance. Ajax saw the telltale frost coming from Gray, beginning to recognize his strange form as the opening stance of his ability, and quickly began to move away from him. "Too bad I'm faster, Ice Make Prison!"

An ice prison formed around Ajax, trapping him inside. Gray formed a bow out of ice and began shooting arrows through the slits in the cage, yelling, "Ice Make Arrows!"

Ajax yelled out, "Tekkai (Iron Body)", in an attempt to protect himself from the blows, but the icy arrows pierced through his invisible armor, injuring him, however, the technique was enough to at least soften the blow.

"You know, this may have worked if I was one of the others, but just because we have the Rokushiki doesn't mean we can't have devil fruits as well," he said, shifting. He grew a long tail, his skin covering itself in scales and his fingers elongating into claws.

Gray cocked his head to the side, "What are you? Did you eat the Lizard Lizard fruit or something?"

"NO!" Ajax yelled angrily, "Dragon Fire!"

A jet of flame blew out of his mouth, melting the ice around him. He smirked at Gray, "For your information, I ate the Dragon Dragon fruit, it's a mythical zoan type."

Without giving Gray a chance to speak, he quickly shot several Rankyaku attacks his way, his now stronger legs amplifying the strength of the attack, but Gray was able to create and Ice Shield quickly blocking the attacks, but shattering after the final attack.

When the frost had cleared, Ajax was right in front of Gray, yelling "Dragon's Shigan (Finger Pistol)", using his newly clawed hands to cut through Gray's skin and leaving several more large holes in Gray's abdomen, until Gray shattered.

Ajax's eyes widened, "Is he a Logia?"

"Try again," Gray said, "Now Ice Make: Clone!"

Several copies of Gray appeared around Ajax, surrounding him, who was looking around, attempting to identify the real Gray. He used a combination of the Soru (Shave) and Shigan (Finger Pistol) techniques to attempt to knock them all down.

"Nice try, but no luck," Gray's voice came from behind him, "Ice Blade: Seven Strike Dance!"

Gray used the two ice blades to attack Ajax, who had been left vulnerable trying to attack all of the clones. The multiple strikes tore through his Tekkai (Iron Body) leaving him lying on the ground.

"Now, Ice Make: Geyser," Gray yelled, impaling Ajax up in several pillars of ice, holding him captive there for his final blow as Ajax attempted to used his fire breath to free himself.

"That won't work, that ice has frozen a dragon slayer, so how would a discount dragon like you be able to burn it down?" Gray smirked, "Ice Make: Cannon!"

Shooting the iced cannonball at Ajax, he destroyed the geyser and the man, who reverted back to his human form. Gray walked up to him, grabbing the key and began to walk away, however he soon fell to his knees. The spinning from his Seven Strike Dance had caused the ice on his wounds to crack, blood pouring from them once again.

"Damn, it's a good thing he didn't actually get me with those damn claws, I don't know how long I would have lasted," he muttered, re-covering his wounds over with ice, before turning to try to find either Franky or someone else.

~.~.~

Nami and Cobra quickly ran into Kumadori and a woman they didn't recognize.

"Who's she?" Nami asked.

"Another CP9 agent, it looks like there's twice as many as we originally thought," Cobra said, eyeing the two.

"Wow, well, I guess it's a good thing that we split off in pairs," Nami said, "And thank god I have you, I don't think I could have taken on both of them."

Kumadori attacked Nami almost immediately, telling the woman that Cobra was to be taken in alive if he was one of the 'special ones'.

"So, do you have the emblem that specifies you as one of them?" the woman asked, "Cause, I would hate for someone as delicious looking as yourself were to be tortured for the information the government wants."

"Why don't you find out if I'm one of them yourself, the emblem can be anywhere on the body, you know," Cobra grinned widely.

The woman smirked at him, "Is that an invitation? How scandalous. My name is Artemis, and I'm afraid that I'll be the one to beat you."

"Cobra," he said, "And I highly doubt that."

"Doubt all you want, it doesn't change the facts," she said, before she said, "Vine Vine Grab!"

Immediately, dozens of vines came through the earth, winding around Cobra, but he used his hearing to manage to evade most of them as they attempted to trap him. However, a few stray vines managed to encircle him and trap him, lifting him up in the air.

"Vine Vine Fist!" Artemis yelled, sending a vine-made hand in the form of a fist towards Cobra. Right when the fist was about to hit home, Cobra yelled out "Sound Wall!"

An intense wall of energy stopped the fist from hitting Cobra, and expanded outwards, destroying several of the walls surrounding them. He then quickly freed himself from the vines, before launching an attack at her.

"Poison Dragon's Twin Fangs!" Cobra yelled, crossing his arms as two fang shaped, maroon, waves rushed towards Artemis, converging on her, but she muttered "Soru (Shave)" and quickly dodged out of the way, watching with wide eyes as the fangs destroyed the floor where she was standing.

"Vine Vine Arrows!" She yelled, and a dozen pointed vines went rushing towards Cobra, who either dodgecd or used his poison to disintegrate the vines coming towards him. When the arrows had stopped, he wasted no time to let her send her next attack, quickly yelling, "Poison Dragon Scales!"

Several scale shaped masses of poison flew towards her, however, she said, "Kami-e (Paper Art)", making her body smaller and lighter, thus allowing her to more easily dodge the projectiles coming her way.

"Vine Vine Storm!" came next, as beneath Cobra's feet, a whirlwind of vines came up around him, surrounding him. Some of them were sharpened to points and were hitting him repeatedly, while others worked to trap him in their grasp. He used his poison to try and stop some of the attacks, and eventually let out his counterattack, roaring, "Poison Dragon's Roar!"

A whirlwind of his own, this time of poison, spread out, destroying the vines surrounding him and heading straight for the woman, she again used her Soru (Shave) to quickly dodge the attack, and then smirked at Cobra, taking in his slightly battered appearance after the last attack, while she remained untouched.

"Poison Dragon? That's quite an interesting devil fruit, even if it is mutant, as I'm inclined to believe that you're part of this special group," Artemis said, "But, if you like playing with poison so much, I guess I'll let you in on the true power of my devil fruit: Vine Vine Fruit: Model: Veneno."

"Vine Vine: Bullets!" she yelled, grinning. Vines shot up in the air, but instead of moving towards him, thorns grew from the vines and then detached and flew towards him. He did his best to dodge them, however, a few of them hit him, puncturing his skin.

When Artemis saw that the thorns had hit him, she smirked, "The venom of the Veneno vine is one of the most poisonous substances known to man, it'll kill anyone unless they have the antidote. Now, I was told to bring you in alive, so I suggest you just surrender, or else the rest of this fight will be quite unpleasant for you as the venom starts sinking in."

However, instead of the fear and pain that she had been expecting, the venom of the Veneno fruit first caused excruciating amounts of pain, which usually incapacitated her victims, she received a calm smirk. It was then that she noticed his appearance had changed. Covering his arms were deep red scales and his hands had shifted to claws. Fumes were coming off of him and combining into the shape of a dragon behind him.

"You don't know much about Dragons," Cobra smirked. He plucked the one of the poisonous thorns out of his chest, licking off the extra poison and then licking his lips, "You should pass this along to your friends higher up. 7 of us here have a mythical type mutant zoan devil fruit: a dragon. We each have an element, I'm the Poison Dragon, and if there's one thing you should know about us, we EAT our elements, and it gives us more power, so attack me with as much poison as you want, I'll just use it as a snack and a power up."

Artemis gulped, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Well you wanted to know, didn't you? Besides, you'll only be able to tell our little secret if you survive," Cobra said, "It's your unlucky day, because out of all the dragons, I'm the only one that's always been a ruthless criminal. Poison Dragon's Fang Thrust!"

Another poison attack, this time in the shape of a snake's head, it's huge fangs reaching out to bite her, came towards Artemis, as she quickly used her Soru (Shave) to dodge, grateful she had the ability. However, when she dodged, she hadn't expected Cobra to be standing right in front of her.

Cobra shook his head, making small, disapproving noises in the back of his throat before grinning, "Didn't someone tell you by now? I can hear everything. Poison Dragon's Crushing Fang!"

He reached out and slashed across her with his claws, poisonous fumes escaping from his claws and slicing through her. As she fell to the ground, he sighed, "It's a shame your trump card was useless against me."

He walked over to her and inspected her, looking for the key. He saw it attached to her necklace and gently yanked it off, before picking her up and carrying her out of the room, as it looked like it was about to collapse from the fight, muttering to himself.

"Damn fairies, making me go soft."

~.~.~

Sogeking and Laxus were hurrying to find their way to an opponent, Laxus using his senses to find someone quicker, against Sogeking's wishes.

"Why can't we just stay here for a while, you know, hold down the fort?" Sogeking said.

"Listen Sogeking, I'm already going along with your little disguise plan, but I know you're stronger than you give yourself credit for, so prove it to me, prove it to the crew, and most importantly, prove it to yourself, and you can't do that, if you're not willing to look for a fight," Laxus said, glancing over at the man.

"I don't know what you're talking about, what disguise?" Sogeking said, but Laxus just rolled his eyes.

In his head, though, Usopp was thinking, 'Does he really think that about me?'

"Ah, it's so nice to have company for once," a voice rang out to them. The man was short, around Wendy's height, and his hair was gray. "I'm always partnered with Jabra, and Jabra is always asleep, it's such a shame."

"And who are you?" Laxus asked.

"Ye-yea, who are you?!" Sogeking echoed, peeking out from behind Laxus's shoulder.

"The name's Rocket, now which one of you wants to fight me?" he smirked.

"Listen, why don't you fight that guy, and I'll go sneak over there and try to get that guy's key? Huh?" Sogeking said, hoping to avoid a battle.

Laxus didn't take his eyes from Rocket, "Yea, sure, whatever."

Sogeking ran off, while Laxus looked over at Rocket, "I guess it's just you and me."

"Shigan (Finger Pistol)," Rocket had barely uttered the words, before he had struck Laxus multiple times in the chest and stomach and was already on the other side of the room.

"So, you're fast, huh? That's how you want to play it?" Laxus grinned, "Lightning Dragon's Roar!"

The lightning struck out towards Rocket, but he muttered, "Soru (Shave)," and quickly moved out of the way.

"Hmm, your technique is faster than the others' that I saw in Water 7," Laxus said, looking him over. 'Is it his specialty... or is it a devil fruit maybe...'

"Rankyaku (Tempest Kick) Cyclone!" Rocket yelled, using the powerful kick over and over on Laxus, but Laxus refused to budge, despite Rocket's increasing speed and the increasing number of kicks, until the last one hit, and Laxus was forced back a few feet.

"Shigan (Finger Pistol)!" was yelled again as Rocket used the same technique he had earlier, 'Isn't this supposed to be one of the ones with a bounty? He doesn't have the tattoo and he doesn't look too strong.'

However, before Rocket could use his technique, Laxus had touched down on the other side of the room after using his Lightning Body.

"You know, kid, you're pretty fast, but are you faster than lightning?" Laxus smirked, "Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd!"

He pulled his hands up and formed a spear of lightning, throwing it towards the boy, who quickly tried to dodge out of the way. While the actual attack didn't hit him, the residuals sparks that crackled to life once the spear hit the ground exploded out towards him.

The boy narrowed his eyes, was this one of the special devil fruit users or not, he couldn't tell. He tried to use his speed enhanced finger pistol again, however, Laxus again shifted into his Lightning Body form and quickly moved out of the way.

"Do you have a logia type lightning devil fruit?" Rocket asked, looking at Laxus from across the room, "And if so, why do you say Lightning Dragon instead of the name of your devil fruit?"

"Who said Lightning Dragon isn't the name of my devil fruit?" Laxus smirked, figuring now was a good enough time as any to start tripping up the government. He allowed his scales to cover his body, letting the lightning spark around him.

'This isn't a normal devil fruit power,' Rocket thought, 'But I can't see that strange tattoo on him anywhere..'

"Speed Speed Cyclone Geppo (Moonwalk)," Rocket said, and kicked off. He started bouncing around the room, even faster than before, and hits and kicks came down quickly towards Laxus, who was managing to either block the attacks or just take them, his scales giving him more protection than normal skin.

"So I was right," Laxus said, continuing to dodge and block the attacks, "You do have a devil fruit power, probably something that increases your speed. Combined with that ability, you can dodge pretty much anything, and you can attack without someone having time to realize where you are."

Rocket didn't say anything, he just continued attacking.

"But you see," Laxus said, "There's a flaw in that."

"Lightning Dragon's Roar!" Laxus yelled, spinning around in a circle and allowing lightning to completely fill the area, crackling and spreading throughout the room. He heard a crash behind him, and turned to see Rocket fall to the ground.

He was torn up, the lightning having shocked him and thrown him around, from the wall to the ground, pieces of stone and wood having scraped and cut him all over his body.

Rocket glared at Laxus, getting up and trying to come up with something to do next, until he saw Laxus coming straight towards him in his lightning form. He stared at him for a split second, taking in the glint in his eyes, the sparks crackling around him, the scales covering his body, and then he saw it, the dragon that was forming behind him from lightning.

He quickly took off in his combined Geppo (Moonwalk) and Speed Speed Fruit ability, running away from Laxus and trying to figure out how to win the fight.

"I already asked you this, maybe we'll find out the answer this time," Laxus said, "You're fast, but are you faster than lightning?"

Laxus caught up to Rocket and tackled him to the ground. He was already so torn up that Laxus decided to just leave him there while he searched quickly for the key.

Rocket unable to move looked at Laxus as he used his senses to look for the members of his crew and figure out who needed him most then.

"Aren't you going to finish me off?" Rocket asked.

"Why would I? You can't move or fight back, there's no point," Laxus said, "All it would be doing is asserting my own power over someone else who can't do anything, what would that prove? Other that I'm a heartless bastard, and I already know that, so I don't need to prove it."

Rocket laughed lightly, "From where I'm sitting, you don't seem much like a heartless bastard."

Laxus chuckled, "Take care of yourself kid."

He walked away, key firmly in hand, to find Usopp and Zoro, who were apparently having a very interesting problem.

~.~.~

Hello! I'm so terribly sorry for the long wait, I'm a uni student and so sometimes, it can be a long time before I'm able to update a story, and I do have a few different stories I'm working on. Anyways, I had wanted to finish out the Enies Lobby arc/Water 7 saga in this chapter, but it was getting pretty lengthy (this chapter is about 9,000 words) and so I decided to post what I had so you guys could read it, and finish it in the next chapter.

I tried to make sure the characters remained accurate, however, before complaining about whether a character is ooc, please keep in mind that there will be character growth and development throughout the story. Also, I tried to make the fights interesting and accurate, as well as not making it seem like the Earthlanders completely overpowered them (it's more difficult than it seems actually), and I tried not to just regurgitate what happened in the anime scene by scene. So I hope the chapter was interesting and you enjoyed, it, I really enjoyed writing it, and adding little things and moments.

Please tell me what you think in the comments section! I love reading your thoughts and suggestions, it makes me happy and motivates me to write!

Anyways, good bye for now, until we meet again :)

-fairytailcrossover


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